


well it goes like this

by maybehonestly



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Minor Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Minor Melissa McCall/Sheriff Stilinski, Miscommunication, Modern Royalty, Past Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Pining, Prince Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-06-06 01:48:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 41,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6733057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maybehonestly/pseuds/maybehonestly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somehow Derek and Stiles have ended up close enough that Laura is able to stand between them and clap a hand each of their shoulders.</p><p>“Look happy, boys. Don’t you know you’re in love?” Laura teases.</p><p>Stiles rips himself away and is out of the room before Derek can even wrap his head around any of this.</p><p>--</p><p>Or: the one where Derek is a prince and Stiles is the one night stand who he has to pretend to date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the nights are long

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Français available: [well it goes like this by maybehonestly](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7527904) by [TheGirlintheBar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGirlintheBar/pseuds/TheGirlintheBar)



> This has been such a very long time in the making. It’s inspired by [hoechlinth’s tags on a gifset](http://danielsharman.co.vu/post/103565309752) well over a year ago. It’s totally complete, but I’m going to be posting it weekly, every Monday. And as always, I would be a total and a complete hot mess without my wonderful beta, [Neon](http://warenmagician.tumblr.com/). You are honestly the utter best!
> 
> Here's my [tumblr](http://maybehonestly.tumblr.com). I sometimes write things and I'm always around to talk to.

_Just two weeks after the announcement that rocked a nation to its core, we spotted Prince Derek Hale out shopping with an incredibly handsome mystery man. Is this man the man that changed everything for the Prince? Should we start trying to figure out how the laws will have to change if these two love birds do indeed marry? What does the Queen think? Does this mean she will be pushing for nationwide reform? How will this conflict with her current proposed goal of internal and external defense reform? So many questions and so little time. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for the couple, but remember if you see the couple or Derek Hale to tweet us as we’re dying to know more!_

Derek slams his head against the wall as Laura flicks off the TV that she and Cora had been watching. “Bro, it’s not that bad,” Cora says with a pat to his face as she passes him on her way to the fridge. 

“They think I’m in a relationship with my security guard.”

Erica, another of the Queen’s guards, snickers from her place next to the door. Derek glares at her. 

“You should be honored, Boyd is a very hot piece of ass,” Erica smirks. 

“He’s your boyfriend, not mine.” Derek flops down on the couch next to Laura. 

“And I’m honored they’d think he’d date you, so you should be too.” 

Laura pulls his head down onto her lap and begins to run her fingers through his hair. “It’s just because it’s new. Give it a couple weeks and I’m sure one of the Kardashians will do something stupid enough that all of the press will move back to them.” 

Derek sighs as Laura’s gentle petting mellows him out. “I don’t even want to be in a relationship right now.” 

“I know,” Laura soothes. Cora comes back to the couch and sits on Derek’s legs. 

“Maybe that’s it,” Cora says. Derek and Laura raise their eyebrows at her to explain. “It’s so creepy when you guys do that in sync. I mean that maybe you should actually hook up with someone. Go to the club. Do whatever it is that you’d do to seduce a guy and have a little fun. They’re going to theorize about every guy you’re seen with anyways so you might as well enjoy it.” 

“That’s a terrible idea.”

Laura considers, “It’s not actually. You get to go have some fun and maybe it’ll help to get the press off your back.”

“I know Isaac would love to go to the club and I could practice my dancing at the gay club,” Erica interjects. 

“How long has it been since you’ve been with someone Der? You deserve to enjoy it,” Laura says. 

Derek sighs. He knows he’s lost the battle once they’ve all teamed up against him; he’d rather do a thousand press conferences than try to beat all of them at once. Plus, it’s not like he doesn’t want to hook up with someone. “Fine.”

“Yes!” Laura cheers, “Now we need to figure out what you’re going to wear.”

Derek closes his eyes as his head thumps back onto the couch after Laura had lunged up. He doesn’t want a relationship, but a hook-up wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe, he shouldn’t be too optimistic though, knowing his luck he’ll leave alone- like normal.

\--  
Stiles bounces in the line outside the club as he tries to stay warm. He may be perfectly dressed for the club if he does say so himself, but it isn’t very practical given the unseasonable chill night.

“Will you please stand still?” Danny begs.

Stiles barely resists rolling his eyes. Danny’s known him long enough to know that that’s never going to happen especially not on a night like tonight when Stiles is full of nervous energy. 

“I’m sorry my natural state is bouncing,” Stiles replies, “But actually I’m not sorry at all.” He sticks his tongue out at Danny.

“Lydia has us on the list, dude, but that doesn’t mean they won’t not let you in for bad behavior,” Scott says. 

“I know that, and I am being on my best behavior. Plus I need this way more than you do.” Stiles looks himself over again and adjusts his shirt where it’s ridden up. 

“Well, yeah, I have Allison.” Scott sighs with that glazed look he gets whenever he talks about Allison.

It simultaneously makes Stiles a little sick, totally happy for them, and a bit jealous. 

“And this is a gay bar.” Stiles rolls his eyes. 

Of course, Scott would only think of the love of his life and not the fact that he’s not actually going to be attracted to anyone there. Not that Stiles is bitter or anything. Really, he’s not. He’s totally happy for his friends, and he’s pumped for the day when he gets to be best man at the wedding. It would just be really nice if he wasn’t forever alone. It’s not that he actually wants a relationship. He definitely doesn’t at all. 

He just wants someone to bring with him to everywhere in his life so he can stop awkwardly third wheeling everyone. So he needs to hire an escort pretty much. Stiles barely resists slapping himself in the face. 

“Come on,” Scott says as he tugs on his arm so that they’re only a couple people back from the bouncer. 

“We’ll find you someone, right, Danny?” Scott asks.

“I promise to not steal every guy,” Danny smirks.

“That’s about as much as I can ask for.”

“It takes time, but it’ll happen for you,” Scott says as he puts his hand reassuringly on Stiles’ shoulder.

“Okay, I’m not nearly drunk enough for this conversation,” Stiles says as he looks around for an excuse, “plus, line’s moving.” 

Stiles walks up the bouncer and thanks his guardian angel that he can avoid that conversation with Scott. The one where Scott acts like everyone meets their soul mate and lives happily ever after. No thanks. 

He knows Scott loves the fact that he lives in his own little fairytale with Allison, but that’s just not realistic for him, or even for most people. 

Within moments of entering the club, Danny is off on the dance floor. Stiles considers joining him, but he needs about two more drinks before he gains any semblance of dance skills.

“I’m going to get some drinks, okay?” Stiles mouths to Scott, the words lost in the noise of the club. 

Scott signals that he heard him as he goes to find a table. Stiles slowly makes his way through the crowd towards the bar and the desperately needed alcohol. 

\--  
“Why am I wearing this?” Derek adjusts his pants, but to no avail. They’re plastered to his body. 

“Because they make your ass look great,” Erica punctuates with a slap to his ass.

Isaac looks him over, “I would totally sleep with you if you weren’t like the equivalent of my brother.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Come on, losers, let’s find you both men,” Erica says as she drags them past the bouncer and into the club. It’s up-scale, but still trashy enough that the dance floor is full of writhing bodies with little room to even get to the bar. Erica sidles through the crowd and pulls Derek and Isaac along behind her. 

“I’ll take a water, and four shots of tequila for these two,” Erica tells the bartender. 

“Erica-”

Erica pushes her finger to Derek’s lips to stop him from talking. “Drink up,” Erica says as she hands them the shots. She nods encouragingly as Derek tosses the shots back, one after the other. If he’s going to survive this, then he’s going to need the liquid courage. 

“See anyone you like?” 

“Hell yes, I do,” Isaac says as he licks his lips. 

Erica smacks the back of his head, “I wasn’t asking you.” Erica and Derek follow Isaac’s line of sight and see a gorgeous, shirtless Hawaiian man eyeing Isaac up. Derek can understand his appeal even if he doesn’t personally appeal to him.

“Go for it, I’ll stay with this one for protective duty,” Erica shoves Isaac away. Isaac pauses to check with Derek, who quickly nods and smiles. Isaac hurries away, not even glancing back when Erica yells, “Use protection!”

Derek chokes on his drink. “Geez, Erica, leave the man alone.” 

She turns her predatory gaze towards him. “Fine, I will, but protection is nothing to joke about.” She checks out the crowd and makes appreciative noises occasionally. “Now, who is tickling your fancy?”

“That wasn’t what I meant,” Derek’s searches the crowd, “I think I’m too picky to find someone in a club.” 

“That’s the point of a hook-up. You have booze-goggles on, and you ignore that in the light of day you’d never actually even consider hooking up with them,” her hand snatches out and drags a guy over to talk to them, “Hi, I’m Erica, and you are?”

“Stiles.” The guy replies. Derek can appreciate how well Erica knows his type apparently. The guy is lanky, but fit, and has lips that he can instantly imagine on his body and around his cock. Especially as they wrap around the straw in the fruity mixed drink that is readily disappearing. “I may swing both ways, but you do realize this is a gay bar, right?”

Erica laughs. “I’m playing wing man for my friend Derek here.” 

Stiles gives Derek his full attention. Derek raises his eyebrow in question after Stiles finishes his up and down assessment of Derek. He only receives a smirk in return that Derek can’t decide if he wants to wipe off his face by getting his lips against his, getting his dick in that mouth, or fucking him against the wall so hard that he can’t even remember his name. 

He can’t even begin to fathom why he thought this was a bad idea, not when someone as gorgeous as Stiles is here to hook up with. One and done sounds perfect to Derek. 

“I’ve just got to get this drink back to-” Stiles gestures to an attractive man across the bar who smiles brightly when he notices he has Stiles attention.

“Your boyfriend?” Derek hears himself ask. This is exactly why he doesn’t try. He can feel Erica trying to meet his eye, but he refuses to give her the time of day right now.

Stiles chuckles, “No, my very straight, very non-single, best friend and wingman for the night.” 

“I’ll be right back and you can buy me another drink?” Stiles asks Derek. 

“Only if you give me a dance after.”

“Agreed,” Stiles says as he walks away.

Stiles can’t resist one backwards glance towards Derek. 

Their eyes meet and Derek can’t bring himself to look away, wouldn’t even if he could. 

The tension finally breaks because Erica hits Derek on the shoulder once Stiles is out of hearing distance. “You made it seem like you didn’t know how to flirt, and here you are barely twenty minutes in and you already have a guy to bang.” 

“Never said I didn’t know how. Just that I didn’t care to. But for one good fuck, I can manage.” 

Derek can definitely manage for one fuck with Stiles. If only to get that smirk off his face. 

\--  
Stiles sets the drink in front of Scott. “I’m an awful friend, but I’m totally ditching you already.”

“That’s why you’re here! I’m happy for you,” Scott says as he glances at Derek and Erica over Stiles’ shoulder.

“Just be careful, yeah?”

“Of course, dad. I’ll only let him buy me a couple free drinks.”

“Stiles-“

“Hey, I can’t help that I’m poor,” Stiles jokes holding up his hands. 

Stiles goes to turn around, but Scott asks, “Does he look familiar to you?”

Stiles glances at Derek, but quickly turns around when they make eye contact. “Not really. Maybe he’s an actor?”

“I don’t think that’s it. You really don’t think he looks familiar?” 

Scott openly stares at Derek in a way that’s not subtle at all. 

Stiles thinks it would be the same if Scott were to hold up a giant flashing sign saying “You’re about to fuck my best friend so I’m judging you.” 

“Not at all.” 

Stiles prays that Scott drops it so he can just get on with his life. 

“Suppose it doesn’t really matter,” Scott shrugs. “Go get ‘em, tiger.” Scott shoves Stiles back in the direction of Derek. When Stiles looks back, Scott already has his phone pressed to his ear. 

Scott mouths “Allison” at him and Stiles rolls his eyes. His best friend is incredibly predictable. But he’s glad to know Allison can amuse him considering how quickly both he and Danny ditched. 

And that’s the difference between them. Scott has his perfect fairytale romance with Allison and this right here, a sleezy club hook-up, is the closest Stiles is ever going to get. 

When he gets back to the bar, Derek’s alone with a matching drink to the one Stiles just pounded down. Derek passes it to him and he nods his thanks. 

The awkward silence lasts about twenty seconds before Stiles cracks with the need to break it. “I love these.”

“I can tell,” Derek teases.

“Hey, at least, I’m trying to make small talk,” Stiles rebuts. 

“Do you normally feel the need to make small talk with the guys you’re going to sleep with?” Derek smirks, and damn, if that doesn’t turn Stiles on. 

There’s something about when he makes eye contact with Derek that he can’t quite put his finger on, but it feels a bit electric. 

“A little presumptuous, maybe?” 

“I can tell you’re attracted to me, and I’m attracted to you. Why wouldn’t we fuck?”

Stiles throws back his head and laughs. Derek’s honesty is incredibly refreshing. He hates playing the game where people pretend to care about each other, but this, where they’re both incredibly open about what’s going on, may be the best thing Stiles has experienced all month if not all year. 

Stiles throws back the rest of his drink and says fuck it all. “I need to at least know how you move your hips before I agree to sleep with you.” He leans in to whisper in Derek’s ear. “After all, I have to make sure you have enough, ahem, skills. I don’t want to waste my time with someone who isn’t quality.”

Stiles knows his taunt worked because Derek steps into his space and puts his hands on Stiles’ ass to pull them flush together. Derek nips at Stiles neck as he grinds their hips together. He moves his head to whisper in Stiles’ ear. “I think I have plenty of skills, don’t you?” 

\--  
Stiles is flushed with arousal when Derek pulls back to wait for his response. “Definitely,” Stiles replies. 

Derek takes his hand and pulls him into the mix of gyrating bodies to dance. He maneuvers through the crowd for a moment more than necessary mostly just to give himself a moment to get his head back on straight.

He may know how to flirt, but this took a turn far past normal. He’s totally okay with it, but he also has no idea where anything he’s saying is coming from. 

Derek doesn’t worry about keeping Erica in his sights because he knows she’s already figured out a way to keep an eye on him without being obvious; it’s what she does best. He is sort of amazed that he’s made it this long without being spotted though; maybe news of his recent coming out isn’t as wide spread as it seems. 

Stiles loosely puts his arms around Derek’s neck and leaves a sliver a room between them as he moves his hips to the beat. It’s not even perfectly on beat, but Derek still finds it wildly sensual. 

Stiles locks onto his gaze and runs his fingers over the back of Derek’s neck.

“Do I know you from somewhere? Scott swears you look familiar.” 

Derek glances up at him. He has three options at this point: fess up and hope Stiles reacts well, find Erica and leave, or lie to Stiles and have the best chance of fucking him. 

“I think I just have one of those faces,” Derek replies.

Stiles nods and moves closer to Derek. His face is hidden in Derek’s neck when he answers, “Mhm, my dad’s the same way. Everyone thinks he’s this really old movie star.”

Derek laughs gently. He lets his hands wander down Stiles’ back till they reach his ass. He slips his hands into Stiles’ back pockets and squeezes his ass. Stiles jumps, but then moves closer to plaster himself against Derek. Derek slows his hips as the song changes. Stiles matches him and shifts until their dicks are rubbing together through their pants.

The damn constricting pants that are going to cause Derek to lose his dick if he doesn’t do something about it soon. 

“We could keep dancing, but I’m not actually a huge fan of dancing.”

“No?” Stiles asks with a twinkle in his eye.

“No, but you know what I am a fan of?” 

“I don’t think I could ever guess.”

“Fucking. I really love that.” 

Stiles laughs. 

“Want to get out of here?” Derek asks.

“That was such a line, but you’re lucky I’m incredibly turned on and my apartment is only four blocks away.”

“Sounds like a win then.” Derek smirks, palms Stiles’ ass, and pulls him towards the exit.


	2. it's so amazing here

_Just yesterday we were speculating about Derek Hale and a very different mystery man, but if our sources are correct, the Prince was at a well-known gay club last night. He was said to have thrown back several drinks before making his selection in men. The couple got hot and heavy before leaving together. We can only hope that the Prince is being smart about his choices. The Queen can’t afford to have to change her priorities once again to focus STDS and HIV as issues in her newest campaign due to her son’s actions. We’ll keep you updated on the Prince if you promise to keep your eyes open, and if you know either of the mystery men, please let us know._

Derek wakes up with a pounding headache. There’s also this horrible mockery of humming going on near his head.

“He awakens!”

“Laura, shut the fuck up,” Derek groans and pulls a pillow over his head.

It’s times like this that he hates that he still lives with his whole family, but it’s tradition, and as much as his mom has been willing to bend on that, there are some things she still upholds. Like everyone living in the royal palace until they’re married. 

“Aw, baby, don’t be like that.”

“I will kill you.”

“Erica warned me you might be cranky when she got you home last night, but I assumed since you got laid that you’d be in a better mood than this. Was it that awful?”

Derek slowly sits up and eyes her warily; “You want me to discuss my sex life with you?”

Laura shudders, “No, definitely not. I just want you to be happy.” She hands him a cup of coffee which he gratefully accepts. 

And it’s this moment, that Derek doesn’t mind living with his family still. It’s comforting to have them around, to have them do things for him just because they want to and not because they’re obligated to because he’s a prince. 

“I just want privacy.”

Laura mumbles her agreement and turns away.

She won’t make eye contact with him which only ever happens when she has something to tell him that’s going to upset him. Laura’s unfailingly honest with him about everything, but that doesn’t mean that she likes to tell him bad news. 

“Laura, what aren’t you telling me?”

Laura sighs heavily and leans down to pick up whatever she had hidden on the bed. She throws a newspaper on the bed in front of Derek. Plastered across the front is a picture of him and Stiles leaving the club. Derek’s hand is cupping Stiles ass, and they’re grinning at each other. Derek knows it’s bad, and he’s well aware of how much trouble he’s going to be in. But he’s also well aware of how much worse it could be. He and Stiles may have stopped in several alleyways on the way to his apartment. Derek can’t help but let out a tiny sigh of relief. 

Laura grabs the newspaper and hits him across the head with it. She stands up and paces around the room.

“What was that for?” Derek exclaims.

“This isn’t new to you, Derek. Yes, it’s a new gender you can be a little less private about, but you are aware of how bad it looks to be going home with a guy you just met at the club.”

“They don’t know I just met him.”

“That’s not the point,” she yells, “The point is that you’re acting like you don’t know how much the spotlight is on you. Fucking newsflash-“ She holds up the paper. “It’s on you. The whole country is watching.”

Derek stands up, pulls on sweats, and crosses his arms across his chest as he faces her. “So fucking what.”

“Mom’s livid, Der, and rightfully so.”

Derek scoffs. 

“No, she is. She’s been planning for this movement for reform with the police, the army, the cyber unit, everyone, for months. But instead of being able to focus on that, she has to focus on the fact that her son has gone home with another random guy from the club.”

“You told me to go!” 

“I told you to sleep with someone discreetly. Not to have the press photograph you molesting some random guy.” 

Derek rolls his eyes. Laura is such a hypocrite. It was only several years ago when Derek was having these exact same conversations with her before she met her fiancé, but he had much more tact at the time. 

“I’m serious, Derek, you need to pull yourself together.”

“Fuck you. I am together. I’m not lying to anyone, the public or myself, for the first time in a long time and if that means that they know I fucked a guy at the bar than so fucking be it.”

Derek pulls on his shirt and heads towards the door. “Der-” Laura starts.

“Fuck off,” Derek says as he slams the door behind him. He should’ve known supportive came with a set of rules. It’d be too much to ask to just enjoy his life for once and worry about his princely duties later. 

Derek wanders aimlessly through the halls of the palace. He feels confined, trapped; he can’t escape what he already knows: the fact that he can’t escape ever. This is his life. He was born a prince and that means he has certain rules he has to live by. It just doesn’t mean that that’s easy every day. 

At least Laura didn’t mention his relationship history once again. Yet. 

Derek slides down against the wall and puts his head in his hands. He knows he should apologize to Laura and his mom, but it’s hard to find the will to do so when he’s just so tired of it all. He loves that he can make a difference on the world and genuinely help people, but about once a month, he just really wishes he could be just Derek and not His Royal Highness, Prince Derek Hale. 

Derek is so completely lost in his own thoughts that he doesn’t even hear anyone approach until they’re tapping his leg with their foot. 

He looks up to see Kate, his ex-girlfriend and an overall thorn in his side ever since. 

“Angsting in the hallway away from all the normal royal action; it’s like nothing has changed,” Kate laughs to herself, “But if nothing had changed than you definitely wouldn’t have been spotted leaving the club with some random gentlemen last night.” 

Derek shrugs and pulls himself to his feet. He moves to put space between himself and Kate, but Kate quickly closes the gap. 

“I wish I would’ve known you were into guys. We could’ve had so much fun with that,” Kate says. 

Her tone is light, breezy even, but Derek’s known her long enough to know that Kate is a politician through and through. 

Derek’s exceptionally sad that he has to remind himself that he actually dated her for almost a year. 

“What are you even doing here?” 

“Dad had an early meeting with your mom about her defense proposals and wanted me along for advice,” Kate shrugs. “Then I got bored and how fortuitous I did because I stumbled upon you.”

Derek grunts in agreement. He’s way too fucking hungover for this.

“What? We can’t be friends now because you’re gay?”

“Bi,” Derek corrects. 

Kate holds up her hands to appease him. 

“Well, in that case, if you’re just looking for an easy lay, I’m always happy to get in bed with you. The sex was the one thing we were always good at, don’t you think?” She presses up against him. 

Derek has to resist physically shuddering. He doesn’t believe in having regrets, but if he were to ever regret anything, it would be that he ever even spoke to Kate, let alone dated her. 

“Thankfully, I have more options now.” Derek can’t bite back the remark before it leaves his mouth, but he tries to cover himself. It’d be a terrible idea to get on Kate’s bad side. “But that’s just because I wouldn’t want you to feel like anyone’s last choice.” 

“Of course,” Kate replies, “Well, I’m around if you want to sleep with someone who won’t draw all the public attention. I know your mom can’t be happy about that.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Derek says, “Speaking of- I need to go find my mom. See you around.”

Derek quickly walks away and tries to put as much space between himself and Kate as possible. He doesn’t want a serious relationship, but he also doesn’t want to hook up with his ex who drives him absolutely crazy.

It’s an absolute shame that he can’t just tell her to leave him the fuck alone for all of eternity and let that be that, but her dad is one of his mom’s key opponents on nearly every issue that the Senate decides on and thus they can’t afford to ostracize their family completely. 

Which means that Derek’s stuck seeing her from time to time. Thankfully, they usually just ignore each other. 

Something he wishes he could do with his current issues, but it’s time to face the music with his mom. It’s always better to willingly show up than wait for her to track him down in anger. 

\--  
“You had one hell of a night,” Scott says with a grin. “Or at least that’s what it looked like before you stumbled your way out of there, plastered to that guy.” 

Stiles groans and pulls the pillow over his head. If he can just ignore Scott, he can get a good twenty more minutes of sleep in. He knows he can do it no matter what Scott throws at him-

The door bangs open, and Lydia strides into the room and rips the covers and pillows from Stiles in one fell swoop. This is something Stiles can’t ignore, and if he even tries, Lydia will make it so much worse. 

“I’m up, I’m up,” Stiles mumbles as he rolls himself off the bed.

“Are you? Or are you still fucking the mother fucking prince?” Lydia asks as she throws multiple newspapers on the bed. All with his face front and center on the cover. 

Stiles can feel the blood draining from his face. All he wanted was an easy lay with some hot guy, not to have to deal with whatever repercussions this was going to have. “Is this going to mess up my job?” Stiles quietly asks as he sinks back onto his bed. He can feel the newspapers crinkling as he sits on them.

“Your job? You think I give two flying fucks about your job? I am the press assistant for the fucking royal family; Derek’s fuck-up is the one I care about.” Lydia glares at him. “You think I would care about your crappy waiter job that you hate when you just royally screwed up mine?”

“Royally screwed.” Scott chuckles, but quickly stops at the sharp looks he receives from Lydia and Stiles.

“Lyds, I didn’t know.” 

“You’re telling me you didn’t recognize the prince?” Lydia asks Stiles. She directs her next question at Scott. “His ex-girlfriend is your fiance’s aunt, how did you not know who he was?” 

“Ally and her dad stay away from their family, I’ve pretty much ignored most of politics as a result,” Scott says with a shrug. 

Stiles is the same. He doesn’t care to follow the royal family, and he learned very early on that it wasn’t wise to talk about Allison’s family with her, too much bad blood, so he just avoided all of it. 

“What’s your excuse?” Lydia snaps at Stiles. 

“I was already tipsy when we met, and I asked him why Scott thought he looked familiar and he said he just had one of those faces. How was I to know it wasn’t true?”

Stiles keeps eye contact with Lydia until she lets out a tiny puff of air, signaling that she believes him.

“Fucking Derek,” Lydia murmurs.

“That’s what Stiles did,” Scott comments.

“Seriously Scott, not the time,” Lydia bites. 

“Actually, you both look like you’re about to have a coronary, so I do think it’s the time for a little humor.”

“You’re probably right, man, thanks,” Stiles says and manages to give Scott a small smile. He’s just hoping, praying even, that his dad hasn’t seen this; that somehow he missed all morning news stands on his way into work. This is not what his dad needs, not given everything else.

“Lydia, what should I do about my job? It's shit, I know, but I can’t afford to lose it. I need the money,” Stiles moans.

Lydia opens her phone and sends a couple of texts. “Can you call in sick for a couple of days? The more time you give this to blow over, the happier your boss will probably be. No one wants to deal with the paps camping out their place and scaring away customers.” 

Lydia continues to tap rapidly on her phone. Stiles massages his temples as he thinks it over. “I can’t really afford to miss work, but it’s better than being fired I guess.” 

Lydia nods her agreement, but is still much more concerned with her phone. If it’s so bad that she can’t even give Stiles her attention, he’s really doomed.

“I’m fucked, aren’t I?” Stiles asks Scott.

“Mayb-” 

“Please, give me two minutes next time before you jump to the most extreme.” Lydia looks him over appraisingly; almost like she would do to a man she was considering sleeping with, but Stiles knows they passed that many years ago. “With a little styling this could work.”

“What could work?” Stiles is legitimately concerned. That look never means anything good for him. 

“Trust me, I have a plan.”

“Do I get to know what this plan is?”

“Nope. Up, up, we have a busy day ahead of us.” Lydia shoves Stiles towards the shower. Stiles knows she isn’t telling him because he’d say no, but if her plan keeps him employed with a steady income, well, there isn’t much he wouldn’t do for that. 

\--  
When Derek enters his mom’s study, she’s deep in conversation with her Chief of Staff, Deaton. Their head of PR, Morrell, paces the room as she yells in what Derek thinks is Hungarian on the phone. Laura and Cora are already reclining on the couch, clearly enjoying the change from being the ones normally in Derek’s position. 

Talia looks up when the door shuts behind Derek. “Derek, sweetie, please have a seat.”

Derek reluctantly takes a place on the couch opposite of his sisters as they smirk at him. It serves him right for how many times he wasn’t nice to them when they were in trouble. 

“Mom,” Derek tries to start, but she holds up a hand to cut him off. 

Talia looks at something on the iPad in front of her before she takes a deep breath to compose herself and turns her powerful stare on Derek. 

Derek gulps and tries not to feel very, very afraid. 

“Derek, sweetie, I wish I knew why you felt so uncertain, so unloved for so long that you felt that you couldn’t talk to me about all of this.”

Derek can hear his sisters choking back laughter, but when he glimpses his mom’s face, he can tell that this isn’t a joke or her trying to make him feel bad. She honestly, truly thinks she messed something up with him. 

“Mom, it isn’t like that,” Derek protests. 

“If you had just been open with us in the beginning, we could have pushed change sooner. It wouldn’t have been easy, but then maybe you wouldn’t feel the need to act out right now,” Talia says with a heavy sigh. “I know you haven’t had the best luck romantically, what with Paige and Kate, but this?”

Derek knows his mom well enough to tell that she isn’t blaming him for any of this. But he also really doesn’t want to get into his romance history with his mom. 

“Mom, it was an accident. Laura told me I should go out and I just, well I got distracted and forgot for a bit to be more careful. I promise it won’t happen again.” 

Derek moves to sit next to his mom and lays a hand over hers. 

She squeezes his hand back and lovingly smiles at him. “Okay, but that still doesn’t solve our current public image problem. What do we have so far?”

She turns her attention to Deaton and Morrell who both look to each other, either silently begging the other to have something. 

“I have a list of things that I know won’t work,” Morrell finally admits, “Because if Derek stops being seen in public with men then it looks like we want to hide him and if he’s seen with another guy so soon, it makes him look far too promiscuous.” 

Derek blushes and desperately wishes that for once, this wasn’t his life. That he didn’t have to have his love life planned by multiple advisors. 

Deaton hums thoughtfully. “There appears to be no readily applicable plan to apply.”

“I have a plan.”

Everyone turns around to stare at where Lydia, a young PR assistant Derek’s pretty sure, walks through the door. 

“Lydia Martin, your majesty,” Lydia says to the queen. “I’m the press assistant.”

Derek doesn’t bother to watch the exchange. His eyes are frozen on the figure still half-in/half-out of the door. 

Because the guy Derek had possibly the best sex of his life with is currently standing in the door looking like he’d give absolutely anything to be somewhere else. 

Derek tries to get himself to do something, anything, but his body feels out of his control. 

“Thankfully for us, I know the guy Derek hooked up with. He’s a good friend. This is-” Lydia turns to look at Stiles, but realizes that he hasn’t followed her in. She snaps at him, “Stiles, get in here. He’s reputable enough that he could reasonably date the prince and thus we have ourselves a solution.”

“Which is?” Talia asks, but it’s clear her wheels are already spinning down the path Lydia’s on. 

Derek can already tell he won’t like this plan, but he’s well aware he doesn’t really have a choice. Not anymore, not ever. 

“The prince and Stiles will pretend to be in a relationship for at least the next several months.”

\--  
“What?” Stiles exclaims. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Stiles fumes silently as Lydia shushes him. 

“Stiles, please, this is a great plan. The country will love to see Derek in a committed relationship and we can explain that Boyd is just the boyfriend of a close friend. We’ll release photos of him and Erica from awhile ago and it will solve that, and we’ll say that last night was the first time Derek and Stiles had seen each other in a while and things got carried away. Then the two of them will go on dates and act like they’re in a loving, committed relationship. It will give legitimacy to Derek’s sexuality, and let’s be honest, everyone loves a good love story.” 

A quick glance at Derek during Lydia’s diatribe tells Stiles everything he needs to know. His royal highness doesn’t want to date Stiles anymore than Stiles wants to date him. 

“And what we’ll date forever?” Stiles asks sarcastically. He can’t believe Lydia would just try to force him to do this. Well, actually he can totally believe it, but it doesn’t make him any happier about it. 

“Six months to a year,” Lydia rolls her eyes dismissively. 

“That sounds like a great plan, let’s start drafting the press releases now so that we can get them out before the end of the day,” Talia replies, “Now, we still need to discuss the benefit that’s only two short months from now. Deaton, where are we at with the prime minister-“

“No,” Stiles says boldly.

He fights back a wince when the queen turns to glare at him, but he’s not backing down.

“One flaw in your little plan is that I refuse. I’m not doing it, okay? So find some other one-night stand he’s lied to because I’m not your guy.” He can’t resist tossing a nasty glare Derek’s direction. 

“One moment, your majesty,” Lydia says as she physically yanks Stiles from the room. 

\--  
Once the door shuts behind them, Derek turns to his mom.

“You can’t really think this is a good idea?”

“I think it’s a great idea, hunny. It’ll take the pressure off you.”

“Mom, let me handle this,” Laura says as she stops Derek’s pacing. 

Laura lays a gentle hand on Derek’s arm. “Der.”

He tries to keep up his glare, but it quickly breaks. He’s never been good at staying mad at Laura and clearly today isn’t the day to try. 

She lowers her voice so that no one else can hear. “Do you remember how you came out to me?”

Derek rolls his eyes and tries to look away, but Laura cups his chin until he meets her gaze. 

“There was that guy on that television show we were watching. Tall, lanky, a little dorky, but with some charm. And you told me how you thought he was cute, and then later, you admitted that you really wish you could date a guy like that. Well, this is your chance.”

“But it’s not real so there’s no point,” Derek protests. He, sadly, understands what Laura’s saying. Stiles is his exact type. It’s why he was so quick to leave with him last night. 

“Think of it as practice. You haven’t really dated someone long term in awhile and certainly never a guy. It’ll give you a chance to get back in the swing of things without any real risk. It will also get everyone off your back for awhile.”

Derek knows that she knows that she has him. He’s put his family through so much recently that he can’t put them through another scandal. 

It’s not like he actually wants to date anyone anyways. He learned a long time ago that relationships aren’t worth the effort they require. Not when he ends up utterly heartbroken or humiliated. 

So if it means this will help his mom, he’ll do it. 

“Fine.”

“Great.” Laura hugs him tightly and spins him around to face their mom. 

“He’ll do it,” she says happily.

Talia lets out a sigh of relief. “Good. It’s settled then,” Talia says firmly. 

“It’s certainly not fucking settled,” Stiles spits out, somehow angrier than when he left the room originally.

Derek makes the mistake of meeting his gaze and has to resist the urge to step back at the anger directed at him. He was clearly hoping Derek would be as opposed as he is. 

Talia stands up and walks towards Stiles exuding grace and power with every step. “Mr. Stilinski, what will it take in order for you to agree?”

“I think Stiles’ main concern is that this will clearly cause complications with his much needed job, which is very understandable of course,” Lydia mollifies.

“Of course,” Talia agrees, “What do you suggest Ms. Martin?” 

Derek knows that once his mom’s decided on a course of action, it’s nearly impossible to get her off of it. There’s very little she probably wouldn’t be willing to negotiate about right now. 

“Well and as this will also cause a degree of personal stress for Stiles, I’m suggesting full living expenses and what he normally would have made at his job doubled as well as the rest of his college loans forgiven.” 

Derek glances at Stiles again, but his face is giving nothing away. There’s something deeper going on, but Derek’s clearly not privy to that knowledge. 

Talia quickly glances at Deaton who gives her a subtle nod that Derek would’ve missed if he hadn’t been watching for it his entire life.

“I believe that’s reasonable. Do we have a deal then Mr. Stilinski?” Talia turns to Stiles and holds out her hand.

Derek watches the indecision battle on Stiles’ face before he sighs heavily. 

“Fine.” Stiles shakes Talia’s hand. 

“Now to hammer out a few last details,” Lydia begins, “I believe it’s best if no one outside of this room knows of this deal.” She looks pointedly at Stiles.

“You want me to lie to my dad?” Stiles’ voice wavers. 

Lydia moves closer to Stiles. “I think it’s for the best.”

Stiles nods slowly. 

“Good, everything’s settled then. I’ll start planning their first date immediately so we can leak the location to the press. Also, I’ll draw up a contract for everyone just so that everything is official,” Lydia says immediately getting down to business.

Somehow Derek and Stiles have ended up close enough that Laura is able to stand between them and clap a hand each of their shoulders.

“Look happy, boys. Don’t you know you’re in love?” Laura teases.

Stiles rips himself away and is out of the room before Derek can even wrap his head around any of this.

What did he just get himself in to?


	3. he took away your smile

_Thanks to one of our loyal Twitter followers, we are able to bring you this latest update on the Prince Derek love drama. Apparently, the mystery beau his Royal Highness was spotted with just a couple short nights ago is the prince’s boyfriend! We’re just as amazed too! Sources say the couple had been apart for a bit and couldn’t keep their hands off of each other upon being reunited (not that we blame them!). It seems they’ve decided to take their relationship public which means that we’ll need all of you to keep your eyes peeled so that we can stay up to date on all the latest movements of the couple. We, like you, are just dying to know more._

Stiles finishes explaining everything to Scott and stares at him as he waits for a reaction. 

Scott bursts out laughing. 

That was definitely not the reaction Stiles had expected or even wanted. It’s not his fault his life thinks it needs to be one grand joke. 

“I’m sorry, it’s not funny.” But Scott’s continuing laughter says something else. 

Stiles huffs and glares at Scott. 

“See if I ever help you with anything ever again,” Stiles mutters under his breath.

“Sorry, bro,” Scott says as he finally pulls himself under control. “It’s just like only you would find a way to end up fake dating a fucking prince.” 

“Yeah, you’re right,” Stiles sighs as he flops down on the couch. 

This whole thing is ridiculous and he really doesn’t know why he agreed. He’s been rethinking it pretty much constantly since he left the palace. 

But when Stiles voices all of this, Scott manages to actually surprise him for the first time in a solid decade. (Their friendship is too tight for surprises, Stiles knows Scott way too well). 

“It’s a great deal, you have to do it!”

“Seriously?” Stiles looks at Scott in confusion. 

“Dude.” Scott hits him on the leg. “It’s going to be way more than you’d make at your job normally, your dad will finally get off your back about finding someone, and you’ll have a lot of free time to work on your comic.” 

“I guess.” Stiles is well-aware of all the logical reasons why he should do it. It’s just weird. He’s just not really into the idea of fake dating someone. Like it sounds so crazy. Also, like a shit ton of work that he isn’t completely prepared for. 

Scott nudges him gently in support when Stiles’ phone rings. 

It’s a private number, but he answers anyways. 

“Yo?”

“Is that how you answer all your phone calls?” Derek asks.

Stiles rolls his eyes. “Only if I don’t know them. The people I do know get told to fuck off.”

“How pleasant,” Derek takes a deep breath, “The car will be at your apartment in an hour to pick you up for our date.”

“Why isn’t Lydia telling me this?” Stiles complains as he crunches on some popcorn as loudly as possible. If Derek’s not going to be pleasant about this then neither is he. 

“She wanted me to have to talk to you.”

“Well, whatever, fine. I’ll see you there.”

“Oh, and Stiles?”

“Yeah?”

“Make sure to wear something a little less like a street corner hooker this time and definitely not like a hobo, we wouldn’t want to give everyone the wrong idea,” Derek says with a bite. 

Stiles wants to rip Derek’s head off, but this deal will help him out so much financially that he’s not going to ruin it by making death threats before they go on their first fake date. He’s glad to know he was right about the prince being a total arrogant asshole though. 

“Certainly, your royal highness. Wouldn’t want to the public to think you had to buy your way into a relationship.”

“You don’t know anything.”

“Sure I don’t. It’s bad enough that you had to lie about not being famous. If you had just been honest then we never would’ve had this issue in the first place because I never would have gone home with you.”

Stiles knows he should reign in his anger and his sarcasm, but something about Derek just ticks him off so much. He can’t resist trying to get the last word, trying to one up Derek however he possibly can. 

Derek takes a deep breath. “Be ready in an hour.” He hangs up the phone before Stiles can say anything else.

“That fucker,” Stiles yells at the phone.

“So this is going to go well isn’t it?” Scott smirks and steals the popcorn bowl out of Stiles’ hands before he can throw it at him. 

Stiles has to resist the urge to physically maim him. 

\--  
Derek was absolutely fuming when he got off the phone with Stiles. Who was this brat to act like that towards him? He had absolutely no right. 

Derek had assumed his anger would lessen, but if anything it grew with every passing moment. He couldn’t believe he was going to have to pretend to like this asshole for the next several months. 

The thought of spending time with him makes his skin crawl. He hasn’t been this angry about something in years. 

He had pretty much perfected the art of not caring about things, but something about Stiles burrowed it’s way under his skin and he can’t get it out. 

And now, he’s been sitting across from Stiles for about a half hour and neither of them has said a word. 

They were hounded going in, but Derek knows it could’ve been much worse. It’s clear Lydia leaked the story to the right people instead of including the vultures who would’ve stopped at nothing to get their picture. 

Derek’s pretty sure he’s never attended a more awkward dinner in his life. 

“Scott was definitely right,” Stiles mutters sarcastically.

Derek doesn’t think he’s supposed to hear it. 

“Right about what? You didn’t tell anyone, did you?” Derek instantly questions. 

“My friend Scott knows, so what?” 

Derek feels every muscle in his body tense. 

“That’s a breach of contract. We agreed we weren’t going to tell anyone.” He knew they shouldn’t have trusted Stiles. 

“You mean my friend who was at the club with us, who was there when Lydia came over the next morning and was figuring out what to do, who clearly knew we weren’t together and that we had just met that night? I don’t think he counts as anyone so fuck off,” Stiles snaps. 

Derek’s smart enough to admit that he may have jumped to conclusions there, but he’s not about to tell Stiles that. 

This, right here, is just reaffirming to Derek why he doesn’t bother with relationships anymore. It’s just way too much fucking work and nearly everyone makes him consider committing murder. 

Dating is probably the most terrible thing in all of existence. 

It definitely is for Derek. 

\--  
This was the worst date of Stiles’ life.

That’s even considering the many clunkers that he’s been on before. 

(And there have been many, far more than Stiles thinks he deserves. Like at one point does he deserve a good date? Apparently, not yet.)

Outside of the short conversation they had had about Scott, they haven’t said a word to each other. Not a fucking word. 

There have been four courses too because this is that kind of restaurant. The kind of place that makes Stiles squirm from the pompous arrogance and simultaneously make him feel like shit for having not once in his life been able to afford a place like this. 

Thankfully, mercifully, they’ve finally reached dessert.

Stiles picks up his fork only to have Derek snort derisively. 

“What?” 

“That’s your salad fork,” Derek replies like it’s obvious.

Stiles has to use every ounce of self-control he has to resist stabbing Derek in the eye with it. He can visualize it perfectly, but then he’d get thrown in jail and he knows there’s no way in hell he can afford that. 

“You have no idea how badly I want to stab you in the eye, but I won’t.”

“How very generous of you,” Derek says snidely.

Stiles is literally at his wit’s end. He doesn’t know how he’s going to be able to stand this for one more minute let alone several more months. 

“Shut up for one minute. It’s clear that you don’t want to be here just as much as I don’t, but this is a mutually beneficial situation so you need to pull your shit together or I’m out,” Stiles says in a rush. 

He hadn’t even really stopped to think about it, but it’s true. This does benefit them both, greatly too. It would help both of them if they stopped acting like it was a punishment and instead treated it as the incredibly weird situation that they chose. Because they both did in fact choose it. 

“We both agreed to do this, dude. We should at least try to not hate each other for the next several months,” Stiles concludes.

He watches as Derek carefully considers before he finally acquiesces, “After that, I’ll go back to hating you.”

Stiles lets out a tiny laugh. He’s pretty sure Derek’s kidding, but not totally sure. 

“And don’t call me dude.”

Stiles holds up his hands in surrender. “Whatever, dude.” 

\--  
Derek hadn’t gotten an ounce of sleep after his date with Stiles. He can’t remember the last time he was this restless. 

Everything about the situation is grating at him in a way he hasn’t felt in a long time. 

The true issue is that he can’t seem to figure out what bothers him the most. 

The way he’s being forced to fake date Stiles, Stiles himself, or the fact that Stiles was the one to point out that they need to be civil to each other. 

If he’s being honest with himself, it’s probably the last one. He should know better. He should’ve known better from the beginning, but he hasn’t made a single rational decision since he let Erica drag him to the club. 

Derek glances towards the window and sees that it’s nearly daylight so he gives up on any pretense of sleep. 

He drags himself out of bed and pulls on pajama pants to go to the kitchen where he’s hoping he can beg for a cup of much-needed coffee. 

He knows Stiles is right; they need to be civil to each other. Derek’s just not sure how that’s going to work, especially if they’re pretending to be romantically involved and with the undercurrent of attraction that’s still completely present. 

Everything was so much easier when he was hating Stiles, and not hating Stiles could become complicated before Derek has any chance to stop it. 

But he shouldn’t hate him just because he’s worried about what will happen if he doesn’t. He’s more mature than that. 

Plus, Stiles may annoy the shit out of him, but that’s not a good enough reason to treat him like total crap. 

Derek’s so caught up in his own thoughts that he doesn’t see who’s walking towards him from the other end of the hall until it’s way too late to turn around. 

Another reason why living in the palace is a terrible thing. Any number of lords or ladies are likely to be there at any given time, and Derek has absolutely no control over whether or not he runs into them. 

He should just hide in his suite forever. 

“Derek, good to see you,” Kate says as she moves closer, closer than necessary in Derek’s opinion.

He screams internally. 

Kate’s been everywhere lately; he almost thinks she’s doing it on purpose, but that doesn’t make sense. 

“Kate.” Derek’s way too under slept and under caffeinated for pleasantries. 

“My father wanted me to meet with Deaton to discuss the latest revisions to his proposal.”

“Well, his office is in the other direction as you sure know,” Derek says as he moves to step around Kate to continue his mission for the kitchen.

Kate slides in front of him to block his path. “I saw the pictures from your date with your boyfriend. I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone.”

Derek shrugs, it’s none of Kate’s business and the fewer questions he answers the less chance he has of messing their story up. 

“You certainly didn’t bring it up the last time we spoke. Someone in a committed relationship usually turns down proposals from sex from their exes with a bit more oomph,” Kate lets the insinuation hang in the air. 

Derek can barely believe what he’s hearing. He doesn’t think Kate has a clue, but she’s straying way too close to the truth for comfort and he doesn’t trust that she wouldn’t do something terrible if she knew. “Then I’ll make myself clear. No thanks.”

Derek steps around Kate and doesn’t give her a second glance. 

He takes every back route he can on his way to the kitchen so he can avoid anyone else. 

Maria, their chef since well before Derek was even born, reluctantly gives him coffee, but she doesn’t kick him out of the kitchen so Derek counts it as a win.

He sits on a stool at the counter and slowly sips his coffee as he lays his head in his hands and closes his eyes. 

“I told you he’d be in here.”

Derek winces at Laura’s overly peppy voice. 

“And I even see a pot of coffee,” Lydia says, “So stop your whining, Stiles.”

At that Derek jerks upwards and sees Stiles smiling nervously at him. Stiles shrugs like he had zero control over the situation which Derek completely believes. 

Laura’s a formidable force, and he’s rapidly realizing that Lydia may be an even bigger one. 

“Sit,” Lydia orders as she pushes Stiles onto the stool next to Derek. 

Lydia immediately pulls out a tablet and begins to type something.

“Guys,” Laura starts looking at them patiently. She’s somehow already fully dressed and looks like she’s been awake for hours. “We know this isn’t the easiest situation, but last night was, well, it was sort of a-”

“Trainwreck,” Lydia adds as she shows them the pictures from last night on the tablet. 

“What?” Stiles asks, “We’re there together.”

Derek winces. They don’t like they’re together, they don’t even really look like they like each other. 

“We’re trying to convince people you’re a couple not that you want to kill each other,” Lydia winces as she massages her temples against the headache that’s brewing. 

Stiles tries to curl in on himself next to him. 

“Do either of you even want this to work?”

They both nod their heads.

“Do I need to remind either of you what’s at stake for both of you?”

They both shake their heads.

It’s clear Lydia wishes she could behead them both. She sighs in disgust and spins away from them.

Derek risks a glance at Stiles and sees him looking back. He can tell that Stiles wishes he could tell Derek “I told you so.” Derek exaggeratedly rolls his eyes, but it’s not in anger this time like it had been every previous time. It feels like it’s just what he and Stiles do; it’s less combative now. 

“Alright, here’s the thing,” Laura snaps her fingers, taking their attention back. “We need you to do better, okay?”

“Okay,” Stiles replies easily.

“Derek?”

Derek glances at Stiles. His heart pounds in his chest as if it can tell that something major is about to change. 

“Sure.” 

\--  
However reluctant he may have been in the beginning, Stiles can readily admit how beneficial this whole deal has been for him.

He’d spent the last three days holed up in his apartment to avoid the press and it’d forced him to work on his comic. He’s never been this productive in his life. 

That, of course, has ended today, as he has to go on another date with Derek.

A driver had picked him up in the morning and driven him to the boat launch where he was quickly escorted onto the royal yacht.

Stiles couldn’t resist snorting at the absurdity of it all. 

The boat was huge; the type of thing Stiles had never even dreamed of having a reason to go on before. 

He passes through several enormous rooms filled with large couches and flat screen TVs until he makes it to the back. He has to wind his way up a staircase until he reaches the bow where Derek’s already standing. 

The boat starts to move before he’s able to say anything and Derek turns around. 

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Stiles replies. They’re already quickly excelling at this ‘be better at faking dating mission’. There’s a huge amount of space between them and neither makes any move to close it. 

“I thought the point of these dates was so that the paparazzi could spot us,” Stiles comments. “Going on a boat into the middle of the ocean defeats the purpose.”

Derek nods towards the side of the ship for Stiles to join him. He points towards the dock where several boats are already departing after them. “They’ll follow. Someone will probably even manage to get a helicopter involved.”

“Seriously?”

Derek nods.

“Fuck, that’s crazy.” Stiles had never really wrapped his mind around the distances they’d go to get a picture.

Derek chuckles lightly.

Stiles feels himself blossom with a bit of hope. There’s a chance this won’t be the most miserable couple months of his life after all. It seems once he and Derek found a way past total hate, they almost get along. 

“So we need to seem more couple-y right?” Stiles says, a plan already forming in his head. Let the record show that he never half-asses anything. 

“Yeah,” Derek answers reluctantly.

“Well then, we better give this our best effort.”

Stiles waits for Derek’s nod and then grabs his hand and drags him towards the cushions placed at the front of the bow. They’re low enough that it doesn’t seem like they’re purposefully being photographical, but there will still be some easy shots to get. 

Stiles flops back against the pillows and pats the space next to him. 

Derek quirks an eyebrow and Stiles can’t resist rolling his eyes. 

“Come on, big guy.”

Derek rolls his eyes, but he joins Stiles. Stiles doesn’t waste a moment as he throws his leg over Derek and lets his head loll against his shoulder. 

“Now, I’m going to take a nap,” he announces decisively.

“Seriously, Stiles?”

“Mmhmm.”

Stiles could almost fall asleep too. Derek is surprisingly comfortable given how much of him is made up of pure muscle. 

He can feel the edges of sleep when Derek nudges his shoulder sharply.

“Hey,” Stiles exclaims.

He opens his eyes, but regrets it when he sees Derek smirking back at him. It’s the same smirk he gave him right before they left the club, and he’s wrapped way too tightly around Derek to let that thought get anywhere within his brain. 

“I didn’t bring you out here so you could nap,” Derek says.

“You mean onto your way too pretentious yacht? Because we all totally own one of these,” Stiles teases, but he doesn’t put the same antagonism in it he did before. Derek really does deserve some light ribbing for this though. 

“Didn’t you know? This is just our small boat. Our real yacht is parked in Ibiza.” Derek keeps his tone even so Stiles can’t even tell if he’s joking or not. 

Derek seems to have taken everything Lydia and Laura were saying to heart. He’s been a lot less tense today and overall more pleasant. 

Stiles shoves at Derek’s chest, but he leaves his hand. 

“Your hand get tired?”

Stiles refuses to let himself blush. He’s doing this for the paparazzi’s sake. 

“Think of it as a game of gay chicken,” he explains as he slides his hand up Derek’s chest and then back down repeatedly, progressively getting lower and lower until his hand’s just above Derek’s waistband.

“I get it,” Derek says as he grabs Stiles hand. Instead of dropping it, he laces their fingers together. He moves his other hand to Stiles’ hip and squeezes. 

Stiles rolls his eyes. He’s never lost a game of gay chicken and he’s not about to now. He shifts so his groan is pressed against Derek’s side and moves his head closer. 

He uses his other hand to rub over Derek’s stubble and cups his cheek in his hand. 

Derek responds by moving closer until there’s barely an inch between their lips. 

Stiles freezes because it’s feels like it’s readily moving past something fake, but he quickly reminds himself that that’s all that it is. 

“You think they got their shot?” Stiles asks softly.

Derek seems to jolt back and he drops Stiles’ hand. He doesn’t move too far though because he knows that the paparazzi are looking for any story to tell. 

There’s a new tension between them that wasn’t there before that Stiles doesn’t know how to deal with. 

“This has got to be putting a damper on your real love life,” Stiles tries to joke. 

“You’re losing opportunities too,” Derek replies, his gaze never leaving Stiles. 

“Nah, I’m over love.” Stiles breaks their eye contact. “It’s just not realistic in my life. Some people like Scott and his fiancé can have that whole fairytale magic thing, but I don’t think it’s in the cards for me.”

He’s really not sure how they just got here. How he let them get here. This all feels way more intimate than Stiles ever allows himself to get. He’s not sure how Derek managed to turn his bad attempt at a joke into something deeper. 

As much as Stiles jokes about relationships and his lack of one, the real truth is that he’s been steadily avoiding them for a long time. 

He doesn’t want to say anything so he prays that Derek lets it go. He’s not sure what he’ll admit if he doesn’t. 

He’s not a huge fan of being vulnerable and this already took a step way too close. 

“What do you think leads you to a life in celebrity photography stalking?” Derek asks after a beat.

Stiles shoots him a grateful smile.


	4. this is what you paid for

_We’re assuming the couple was having a lover’s spat during their date several nights ago, because they looked nothing but deeply in love when they were spotted on the royal family’s yacht. At one point, we were even a little worried (excited) things were going to get hot and heavy right there in the open. The real question now is who is this mystery man and when will he be meeting (or even becoming part of) the royal family? We promise to keep you updated, but only if you keep us updated too. We need to be a team in this if we’re going to be able to find out the mystery man’s name so that we can finally give this couple the couple name they so clearly deserve._

Derek’s date with Stiles had only been yesterday, but it also feels like it was eons ago. 

In some ways, Derek wishes he could see Stiles now, but he also wants to put it off forever too. 

Things are good between them now. Or at least that’s how Derek feels. He still can’t get as good of a read on Stiles as he’d like. 

They had cuddled for awhile, but then it got really warm so they had just gone inside and relaxed without the pressure of the photographers watching their every move.

Derek’s reluctant to admit it, but it was actually just a lot of fun. They ended up playing Mario Kart for hours, far longer than they needed to. Stiles had teased him the entire time, and Derek had teased him right back.

It’s been a long time since anyone outside of his immediate family and tight group of friends has felt so comfortable treating him like he’s normal.

It’s incredibly refreshing. 

But now Derek’s stuck in a constant state of reminding himself that he’s not supposed to want to keep spending time with Stiles. That they’re both doing this because they have to, not because they want to. That they’re not actually dating. 

It’s just this new connection he has with Stiles is throwing him off. It’s not like any of his other relationships, platonic or otherwise and that makes it deeply interesting. 

Whatever movie Isaac put on is doing an incredibly poor job of distracting Derek from his thoughts. 

He knows it’s really a lost cause when Erica and Boyd come bursting through the door. 

“Look who it is,” Erica exclaims, “Our resident lovebird.”

Derek flips her off. 

“Oh, please, I know that’s what you’d rather be doing to Stiles, or well, that’s what the whole country thinks you’re doing.”

“Seriously, Erica?” Derek groans. He really doesn’t know why he still keeps her around. (That’s a lie, she can be a good friend, but it feels increasingly rare.) 

She throws herself down on top of him in the chair and pulls out her phone. As soon as it’s unlocked, she passes it to him. 

Derek reluctantly glances down at the phone to see a picture of him and Stiles. Precisely, a picture from the moment where Derek thought they were about to kiss. The article goes on to specify that he and Stiles then quickly moved inside from which they did not leave for hours and that whoever the author of this trash is wishes they could’ve been a fly on the wall of that bedroom. 

“That’s just wrong,” Derek mutters. 

“I don’t know,” Erica sings as she pets his head. “I can kind of agree with them, and I actually have the basis of seeing you and Stiles together before, not together together, but still. You guys look like you’re about to go fuck.”

“We didn’t.”

He glances at Boyd in hope of his silent support. It’s rare when Boyd feels the need to comment on anything in Derek’s life unless it’s directly affecting his safety.

But instead of silence, Boyd admits, “It does look pretty intimate.” 

Derek doesn’t have an answer for that because it was. It may have all been pretend, but what they were doing was definitely more than you’d do with just a casual acquaintance. 

He shrugs. 

“What does that mean?” Erica questions as she sits up digging her bony ass into Derek’s leg. 

He tries not to wince. 

“What? He’s annoying, but we both realized we have to sell this for awhile so there’s no point in not being friends.” He shoves Erica off his lap so that he can go get himself a soda and to give himself a moment to get his blush under control. 

“Just friends?” Isaac teases with a knowing eyebrow raise. 

Derek takes a long gulp. “Just friends.”

Erica, Boyd, and Isaac exchange glances that Derek’s not even going to try to decipher. 

“Can we all start taking bets on when this becomes way more complicated?” Erica says. 

“It’s just a business arrangement.” 

“So bets?” Erica turns around to ask completely ignoring Derek. 

It’s okay, Derek’s pretty much ignoring himself at this point too. He’s gotten pretty good at deluding himself over the years, but this is shaping up to be his biggest challenge yet. 

\--  
“Stop,” Lydia says, putting her hand on Stiles’ knee to hold it in place from its incessant bouncing as she picks over his outfit and messes with his hair. 

Derek’s off to the side having already been given Lydia’s official blessing.

She steps back to admire her work and slaps Stiles’ hand when he reaches up to touch his hair.

“It’s as good as it’s going to get,” she sighs, “Don’t touch anything.” 

Stiles nods solemnly. He’s known Lydia for long enough to know that her threats are very real and they carry very real consequences. 

She gives both of them one more last look before she leaves them to wait for the driver. 

“I can’t believe we’re allowed to go clubbing again. It’s a far stretch from a royal yacht and a dinner that costs more than my yearly rent.”

“Even your rent can’t be that cheap,” Derek says without missing a beat.

“Hey!” Stiles exclaims as he nudges Derek. 

“We have to make it seem like it’s something we just do, like the first instance wasn’t the only time we were out. It makes it seem more normal,” Derek explains. 

Stiles laughs and grins at Derek. “More fun for us then.” 

And it is, sort of.

Stiles is willing to fully admit that he has fun with Derek. Outside of those first couple of days, things have been good between them. 

But the dates are still a little strange. 

At least the club is a much more normal environment than any of their previous dates, but it’s also clear that there’s a lot more security this time than when they were last in a club. 

It’s also clear that most people in the club know they’re there and exactly who they are.

He’s lost count of how many camera phones have been pointed in their direction. 

Stiles had always figured that being in the spotlight wasn’t as dandy as everyone thought, but he’d never actually taken time to really think about it. To think about the fact that everyone stops their conversations to start talking about you when you walk by. Or the fact that every single thing he’s done has been documented from a thousand different angles. 

Derek bumps his shoulder lightly. “You doing okay?” 

Stiles nods and offers Derek a small smile. He hadn’t realized how much effort everyone was taking before to ease him into this, but now it’s like he’s been thrown in the deep end but can’t remember anything he was just taught about swimming. 

“Let’s dance,” Stiles hesitates, “we can do that right?”

“Yeah,” Derek replies, lacing their fingers together and leaning in as he whispers, “We just probably don’t want to dance like we did last time.”

Stiles can’t help but involuntarily shiver at Derek’s tone. He’s chalking it up to the environment and the memory of the sex more than anything else though. 

He’s had significantly less to drink this time, but moving with Derek is still as electric as before. He leaves a sliver of room between them, but he snakes his arms around Derek’s neck and moves his hips to the thumping beat. 

Derek gives him a long once over, lingering on his lips as they move together. 

It’s easy to remember how they got into this mess in the first place now that they’re back in a similar position. 

Stiles lets himself get lost in the moment. In the feeling of Derek’s hands on his hips. In the music and matching the beat. In enjoying being right here, right now. 

Over the course of the song, he lets himself gradually drift closer as Derek pulls him closer too. There’s barely any room between them now and when he looks up his lips are less than an inch from Derek’s. 

He licks his lips in anticipation. 

He lets his head tilt to the side slightly and leans in just a hair more.

Stiles is sure Derek’s about to meet him the rest of the way when there’s a commotion several feet to their right that their security team is immediately ushering them away from. 

“We should probably take a breather,” Derek says, leaving his arm looped around Stiles’ waist.

“I could use something to drink.” Stiles tries not to feel disappointed; none of this is real anyways. 

They make their way through the crowd and into the VIP area. As soon as they’re in the room, Derek stiffens and drops his hand from Stiles’ waist, but when Stiles looks around he can’t find anything out of the ordinary. 

A staff member leads them to a private booth and promises to bring water over. 

Stiles lets his eyes fall closed and thumps his head against the back of the seat. “So this has been interesting-“ 

“It has indeed,” a female voice agrees.

Stiles opens his eyes and finds a beautiful woman standing over their table as Derek glares at her. 

He waits for either the woman or Derek to say something more, but neither appears eager to start the conversation, Derek out of anger, but the woman seems to relish having more knowledge than someone else even if it’s as simple as the fact that she and Derek know each other and Stiles has no idea how.

“I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Stiles.” He says as he holds his hand out to shake.

“Kate,” she replies, “Makes sense that you wouldn’t have, of course.”

She oozes haughty rage, but Stiles can’t resist falling into her trap. He’s always wanted to know all the facts, no matter how that may end up hurting him. 

“Why’s that?”

“Well, Derek has never been one to share any details of his life with any of his ever revolving door of bed warmers.”

“That’s enough,” Derek threatens, but Kate continues without missing a beat.

“See I was Derek’s last serious relationship and now he has all these new, well, girls usually, filling his bed and they think they’re going to become the next princess thanks to Derek here, but everyone else knows that they’re only temporary. It’s only fair that you know too.”

Stiles glances at Derek out of the corner of his eye and he can tell he’s only a moment from ripping her throat out.

It takes Stiles a moment before he puts all of the facts together. 

This is Kate Argent. 

Derek’s ex and Allison’s aunt and apparently a flaming bitch. 

He slides closer to Derek and slips under his arm and smirks up at Kate. “Kate Argent, right? Allison’s told me so much about you.”

Kate bristles. 

Stiles is glad the bluff struck a nerve. Allison’s mentioned Kate, but to say they ever really talked about her is incredibly far from the truth. 

He takes the opportunity to strike. “It’s nice that you’re trying to help me, but clearly this time, you’re the one who’s uninformed. Derek and I are serious, committed if that’s the term you want. You’re clearly the one who’s ancient history.”

Kate raises her hand like she’s about to hit Stiles, but then remembers where she is and she rakes it through her hair, tossing it over her shoulder in what Stiles assumes is an attempt to be sexy. 

She smirks devilishly. “Have a nice night.” 

Before Stiles can reply, she’s turned on her heel and disappeared into the crowd.

Stiles is beyond confused as to what’s going on. She clearly doesn’t know the whole picture, but there’s a tiny part of himself that can’t help but wonder how right she may be. He was supposed to be a one-night stand.

How often does Derek do this? Was he just the one that went horribly wrong?

It’s all just another reason why he can’t let himself get invested in all of this. Not emotionally at least. 

He ignores the inkling in the back of his head that it may already be too late. Hope is a bitch like that. 

“What was that?”

“How do you know the Argents?” Derek counters. 

The argument’s brewing before either of them has a chance to think about it. 

“Allison is Scott’s fiancé.”

“Great choice in fiancé,” Derek mutters sarcastically.

Stiles knows he should let that go, Derek’s clearly just upset by his ex, but Stiles has never and will never be a person who lets other people trash talk his friends and family. 

“Hey!” Stiles snaps, “Allison and her dad haven’t had anything to do with the rest of her family in a long time and she is probably the best choice in fiancé Scott could have ever made.”

“Whatever,” Derek grumbles, resolutely ignoring Stiles. 

“Are you going to tell me what the deal with Kate is?” 

Stiles is getting really tired of not knowing things. He’s a person who thrives on having all of the answers or at least enough knowledge to make a plan, but now he’s running on pretty much nothing. 

“Long story,” Derek grumbles.

He stands up and waits for Stiles to slide out of the booth. 

“A story I deserve to hear.”

“No,” Derek replies definitely. “Let’s get out of here.”

Derek tries to pull Stiles along, but Stiles stands his ground. 

“Your crazy ex doesn’t get to come up and make weird ass comments like that and you not explain. Whatever, you’re on your own, asshole.” Stiles shoves Derek away from him and pushes himself out into the crowd before he realizes what a terrible mistake that was. 

Since Derek’s not with him, the security detail isn’t either and that means the crowd’s on him instantly. 

If he could think, he’d compare it to a hoard of starving zombies and he’s the only meal in sight. 

Everyone’s shoving against him and he loses his sense of direction more than once trying to find his way out. 

He’s not sure how long he’s been stuck trying to make his way to the exit, but he knows he’s not close enough as he can feel the panic attack creeping up on him. 

The yelling voices, the constant flashing of cameras, the beat of the music, the adrenaline from his argument with Derek. 

It’s all too surreal. 

He tries to keep moving towards the exit, but he’s not sure he’s even going in the right direction anymore.

It doesn’t even matter though because any forward momentum has stopped too. 

And just like that he can tell that his brain can’t process anything else and he can feel the panic take over. 

\--  
Derek’s pulse is still pounding from Kate’s diatribe when she walks away. 

The one benefit is that she reminded him exactly why they’d broken up so many years ago. Because anyone who can go from relentlessly trying to get them to sleep together to making open threats is not someone he needs in his life. 

She’d always been too unstable for him and so he’d ended things after some long talks with his family who pointed out that he was mostly with her since she was the antithesis of Paige and that dating someone who was terrible for you wasn’t a reasonable way to handle his grief over Paige’s death. 

It had taken awhile, but Derek had realized they were right and that had been that. He’d thought he’d gotten Kate out of his life for good, but apparently he isn’t that lucky. 

He’s tried to ignore her, but she seems dead set on constantly fucking his life up. 

Derek’s so distracted by everything that he’s not even sure what he says to Stiles until several minutes after he realizes Stiles is no longer with him. 

It’s only when Boyd tugs on his arm that he realizes something’s wrong. 

“What?” Derek snaps.

Boyd only turns to look to where all the cameras are pointed in the crowd, where Derek is sure Stiles is buried somewhere within, with what looks like absolutely no security.

“Why is no one with him?” 

“We couldn’t leave you and he stormed off before anyone could tell him not to,” Boyd says. 

Boyd organizes the other bodyguards quickly in order to catch up with Derek who’s already pushing through the crowd. 

Derek’s not really sure of anything right now, but what he is sure of, is that Stiles doesn’t deserve any of this. He doesn’t deserve Kate and he certainly doesn’t deserve to be crushed by a mob especially not because Derek was so enraged with his ex that he took it out on him. 

He physically pulls the last person between them out of the way to get to Stiles.

Stiles looks like he isn’t sure where he even is anymore. He’s hyperventilating and his hands are trembling. 

Derek wraps his arm around his waist and pulls him close as Boyd leads them out of the club. 

“Stiles, hey, Stiles,” Derek tries, but he’s not sure if Stiles is registering anything. He’s about ninety percent sure Stiles is having a panic attack, but what he does know is that they need to get out of the club. 

Except the outside isn’t any better. The paparazzi are everywhere and it feels just as crushing as the inside of the club was. 

Derek lets out a sigh of relief when the SUV finally comes into sight. He pushes Stiles in before him before quickly climbing in after him. 

He can tell Stiles is still shaking so he wraps an arm around him and strokes his back gently. 

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Derek says softly. 

The car finally starts to drive away. 

“Boyd, can we go to his apartment?” Derek asks. Boyd nods. 

Derek’s not sure how he knows where to go, but he trusts him to figure it out. Right now, the only thing he’s sure about is that it’d be best for Stiles to be some place he feels safe. 

“Stiles, can you breathe with me?” Derek whispers gently. 

Stiles doesn’t respond. 

“Stiles?” Derek tries again. 

After a moment, Stiles nods. 

Derek lets out another sigh of relief, but then quickly starts to take long and deep breaths. He pulls Stiles’ hand to his chest so he can follow along. It takes a moment, but Stiles’ breathing begins to slow as it matches with Derek’s. 

They stay like that for the rest of the ride until Boyd tells them they’re at Stiles’ apartment. 

Stiles finally looks up at that and seems to recognize where they are, but Derek’s not taking any chances. 

“I’m going to walk you upstairs to make sure you get in, okay?” Derek asks with a gentle squeeze of Stiles’ shoulder. 

Derek’s incredibly grateful that it seems like the paparazzi weren’t able to follow them here so that they’re able to sneak inside without any trouble. 

Stiles nods and Derek follows along beside him as they ride the elevator up. 

Stiles opens his apartment door and moves inside, but he doesn’t close it behind him. 

“Alright, well, if you’re okay, I’ll go,” Derek says hesitantly. He doesn’t want to go; he wants to stay here and make sure Stiles is okay. He wants to take care of him. 

Stiles nods so Derek turns and begins to turn away. 

“Derek, wait,” Stiles stops him, voice hoarse. “Would you maybe stay?” 

“Of course,” Derek replies and follows Stiles into the apartment.

The apartment is simple, if a little chaotic with all of the stuff lying around. Derek knows Stiles shares the space with Scott until his wedding so all of the clutter makes sense. It’s nice, nowhere near as fancy as anything he’s used to, but it feels homey and natural. 

He sends a quick text to Boyd to let him know what’s going on, but then he lets Stiles pull him to his room. 

Stiles pulls off his club clothes and climbs under the covers. 

“Do you want me to borrow a shirt or something?” Derek asks. 

He’s willing to do whatever will help Stiles, but he really doesn’t want to sleep in his grimy club clothing. 

“Dude, I’ve seen you naked, I don’t really care right now,” Stiles replies. 

Derek quickly shirks his clothes and climbs into the bed. He’s not sure what Stiles wants, but as soon as he turns over so that he’s touching Derek, Derek wraps his arms tightly around him, stroking Stiles’ back as he falls asleep. 

It’s been a night full of wrongs, but this has never felt so right.


	5. you know it ain't easy

_It may not have been an eventful night for us, but it certainly was for the prince and his new beau. They were spotted at another hot new nightclub, but at one point, the pair was separated and it appears the new beau was a bit overwhelmed by all the attention. We would’ve been too and we hope he’s okay! On the other hand, it’s led us to finally learning the lad’s name so we can stop calling him the new beau and instead call him Stiles Stilinski. We can only hope that the first name’s a nickname, but it doesn’t matter because we’re already dreaming up couple names. We’re thinking Sterek? Let us know what you think, but for now, don’t forget to tag all your posts #sterek so we can stay updated and we’ll do the same for you!_

Derek wakes up slowly; relaxed, comfortable, and warm in a way he hasn’t been in years. 

It takes a moment before he remembers where he is and what happened but even when he does he can't bring himself to untangle his limbs from Stiles'. 

He opens his eyes slowly when he feels Stiles begin to stir. Stiles blinks sleepily at him and then jerks back when he wakes up further.

Derek lets him go even though he doesn't really want to. 

"Sorry about that," Stiles mutters, "I have a tendency to cuddle attack anyone I sleep with." 

"I don't mind," Derek replies. 

It's true even though normally he can't stand being this close to people. 

"Anyways, thanks for staying with me last night. I don't want to keep you from any important princely duties you have." Stiles climbs out of bed and pulls on pajama pants, keeping his back to Derek. 

"If that's your cue that you want me to go I will, but I don't have anywhere to be and I wouldn't mind making some breakfast."

Stiles stops putting his clothes away to look at Derek inquisitively. 

"You're going to make breakfast?" Stiles questions in disbelief. 

Derek huffs. "I can cook." 

"Well I'm going to go brush my teeth but help yourself to anything in the kitchen."

Derek watches Stiles leave the room before he heads out to investigate the kitchen. He discovers that Stiles has a plethora of junk food, but that thankfully he also has all the ingredients for pancakes.

He’s just found himself a bowl and is about to add some flour when Stiles walks into the kitchen. 

He hadn’t gotten to appreciate it earlier, or when they slept together, but Stiles looks exceptionally good when he’s well-slept with a bit of bedhead still going on.

Derek’s so distracted that he stops paying attention to what he’s doing. 

Before he can stop it, a huge chunk of flour pours out of the bag and poofs back up at him covering his face in a thin layer of white dust. 

There’s silence for a moment before Stiles breaks out into laughter, leaning against the counter to keep himself upright because he’s laughing so hard. 

As great as Derek thinks that is, especially since there was a long chunk of time during which Derek assumed he’d never see Stiles smile nor would he even want to, he can’t let Stiles get away with laughing at him.

Derek reaches a hand into the bowl of flour and flings some at Stiles.

He splutters in indignation when it hits him, but Stiles doesn’t let that freeze him for long. 

Stiles lunges across the counter and grabs the bag of flour and immediately returns fire at Derek.

Next thing Derek knows, they’re both throwing as much flour as they can and they, along with the entire kitchen, are completely coated in a light coating of white dust. 

Derek’s pretty much out of his bowl of flour and he really hopes Stiles is out of ammunition too.

“Truce?” He calls out from behind a stool.

“Deal!” Stiles agrees. 

They slowly stand up and glance at each other warily. Stiles leaves the bag of flour on the ground so Derek assumes he’s in the clear. 

Stiles steps closer to Derek until he’s within reaching distance. He smiles and then lifts his hand to press one last handful of flour onto Derek’s face. 

Derek immediately scoops whatever he can get off his shirt and wipes it down Stiles’ cheek. 

“Now truce?” Stiles asks.

Derek nods. 

He can’t ignore how close they are too each other, having moved even closer after Derek got Stiles for the last time. 

All Derek would have to do is lean forward a couple inches and he’d be able to kiss Stiles.

He’s really considering it too.

Especially when he catches Stiles glancing at his lips. 

Derek’s rapidly losing any reason not to. 

And fuck, does he want to. 

\--  
The beating of Stiles’ heart is so loud he swears Derek can hear it too. 

Somehow, that play fight took a quick turn and now the air is charged with something totally different. 

Stiles wants to kiss Derek and he’s pretty sure that Derek wants to kiss him too.

He’s not really sure when they went from fake dating to something else, but this definitely feels like something else, something more. 

Stiles starts to lean in; there’s no reason he shouldn’t. His lips are a hair’s breadth away from Derek’s when his phone shrilly rings in the background. They both jump apart like they’ve been caught doing something wrong.

Stiles looks around for his phone and finds it under a pile of flour. 

It’s his dad.

“I should get this.”

“Yeah, of course,” Derek says as he tries to brush some of the flour off of himself. 

“Hey, dad, what’s up?” Stiles cheerfully answering the phone.

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Stiles tries to clear off space to sit, but eventually just gives up and plops down on the flour.

“Really? Because I have an article here that says something very different.”

Stiles recognizes that tone of voice. It’s his dad’s ‘I’m incredibly angry, but I’m trying to hide it’ voice. Stiles hates it with every fiber of his being. 

“Oh.”

“Oh? That’s all you have to say for yourself? You couldn’t call me up to let me know you’re dating the prince? Instead I had to find out from a trashy magazine?”

Derek glances at Stiles when his dad starts to yell, but Stiles shakes his head. There’s nothing Derek can do, and Stiles totally deserves this especially since he’s lying to his dad too. 

Even if he’s starting to wish he wasn’t, he is. This is a fake relationship, nothing more. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” The Sheriff asks, anger seeping out of his voice and being replaced with hurt.

“I- we- well-“ Stiles stutters trying to figure out something to say.

“You know what, it doesn’t matter. I would like you both to come over for dinner; this is not a choice.”

Stiles learned long ago not to argue with his dad when he gets like this, but he wishes he could. There’s no way this is going to turn out well.

He should’ve just told his dad sooner instead of procrastinating on it and then maybe he could have avoided this whole situation. 

Stiles sighs. “When?”

“Tonight,” his dad says firmly.

“I’m not sure that’s going to work.” 

Derek said he didn’t have anything to do, but that didn’t necessarily mean that he didn’t have anything to do all day. 

“Find out.”

Stiles wracks his brain for some last out, but he can’t come up with anything. He glances at Derek to see his reaction, but Derek’s resolutely not looking at him as he scoops flour off the floor. 

“Okay, I’ll let you know.”

His dad hangs up before he can say another word.

“Everything okay?” Derek asks gently.

“My dad wants us to come over for dinner with him tonight.”

“Okay,” Derek replies easily.

Stiles swore Derek was going to fight him on this. Derek has to realize that this isn’t going to be anything like their other dates or Derek’s normal life. Stiles and his dad have lived their lives paycheck to paycheck. 

“Really? That’s it?”

“I’ll have to move a couple things around, but it’s your dad so I assume it’s important to you, so I will,” Derek explains. 

“Oh, okay, well good. I’ll let him know.”

Stiles can’t help but think that maybe Derek isn’t the pompous prince he first appears like. None of his actions since he and Stiles decided to get along have affirmed that idea at least. If anything, Derek’s been refreshingly normal. 

Stiles shoots a quick text to his dad and then glances around at the hellish mess surrounding them.

“Any chance you want to help me clean?”

Derek raises his eyebrows at him as if to say no fucking way, but yet, he’s still there several hours later helping Stiles even though they finished eating breakfast hours ago, having ordered take-out after all of their ingredients were essentially destroyed. 

Once they finally finish, Derek heads out just so that they can both get ready before dinner.

Stiles’ nerves carry him quickly through everything he has to do and he’s forced to wait for the hours to pass thinking of everything that could go wrong with his dad meeting Derek.

He’s pretty sure he’s more nervous than he would be if he was actually dating Derek. 

He’s still trapped in those thoughts when he and Derek drive to his dad’s house. His leg won’t stop bouncing and he’s nearly picked his nails raw.

“Stop,” Derek says catching Stiles’ hand so he can’t continue. 

“Sorry, just nervous,” Stiles explains. Nerves barely begin to cover it. There’s about a trillion ways this could go wrong and so very few scenarios in which it could go right. 

"I'm probably more nervous so I think one of us needs to be calm and it isn't going to be me," Derek jokes.

Stiles gets that. He really does. If he was Derek, he'd be nervous too. 

But this is Stiles' dad. 

Who he has to lie to for the first time in years though guaranteed he's been lying by omission to him for weeks now but he doesn't really count that. 

This is him looking his dad in the eye and pretending he's in love with someone whom he's not. 

Stiles dutifully ignores the part of his heart that is telling him that he may have more feelings than he started with because it doesn't matter. 

This is a fake relationship. 

Derek's not into him. 

Except he certainly looked like he was going to kiss Stiles earlier. So moral of the story, Stiles is incredibly confused and he has to somehow lie convincingly. 

This isn't going to be a problem at all. 

"Too late," he finally replies to Derek. "We're here."

He gestures out the window at his childhood home and he spots Melissa's car in the driveway so at least his dad had picked a night when she was home from work so that she could be a neutral presence to soften his anger. 

Stiles shudders in agony as he leaves the car. 

"Ready?" He asks with an overwhelming amount of faux cheer. 

Derek rolls his eyes and knocks on the door. 

His dad opens the door still wearing his uniform. 

"Seriously?" Stiles whines, shoving past his dad and pulling Derek along with him.

He's incredibly grateful that Derek's security agreed to stay outside instead of coming in or there's a good chance guns would already be drawn based on how his dad's acting. 

"I just got off work and didn't have time to change," his dad explains but Stiles suspects that that isn't true.

He walks into the dining room where Melissa is putting food on the table. 

"Hey, Mel," he greets and immediately goes to hug her. 

"It's been too long." She puts the last plate on the table and turns to Stiles. She squeezes him tightly before releasing. 

"And you must be Derek," she says and pulls him into a hug as well. 

Derek's hesitant for a moment before he hugs her back and pulls away smiling. 

He can tell that Melissa's helped remove some of the tension they had, but the second Stiles' dad steps through the door it's back for both of them. 

They all sit down to eat and no one says anything for several incredibly long and awkward minutes. 

Stiles glances at Derek as Derek quickly looks at him; he tries to give him an encouraging smile, but he’s not quite sure it works, not when he’s not sure he even can be encouraging at this moment. 

The Sheriff's barely touched his food as he watches Derek carefully. "Was it your intention to leave Stiles to get bombarded by people last night? Because to be perfectly honest it doesn't make me think very highly of you."

Stiles wants to face palm; he's in that much disbelief over his dad. 

Also he has no idea why this is the line of questioning he's going with and more importantly, he has no idea how Derek's going to react. 

\--  
Derek's at a complete and utter loss for words. 

He’d been able to hear some of Stiles and his dad’s conversation earlier, and it hadn’t been good. But that had been why he’d agreed to come so quickly. His mom wasn’t pleased that he’d had to cancel on his monthly dinner with the veterans, but she’d understood and had Laura and Cora go in his place. 

Derek wasn’t even sure why he’d been so nervous. He chalks it up to the fact that he feels like he owes Stiles after everything of the past day. It hadn’t helped when Stiles had been just as nervous, Derek had felt his own nerves amplify. 

And now, Stiles’ dad is interrogating him. He figured Stiles' dad wasn't going to be thrilled about everything but this is a completely different story. 

Derek’s pretty sure he has a bead of sweat building on his forehead, but he doesn’t want to draw attention to it by wiping it away. 

"That wasn't his fault," Stiles jumps to explain. 

"I'm not saying that," the Sheriff cuts him off. "I'm just trying to figure out what happened and what went wrong. Since he's the one that's used to having security, he should've been on top of things."

Derek's not able to resist wincing, especially because he thinks that what Stiles' dad is saying is true. 

He should’ve made sure that Stiles was protected at all times and honestly it could have been so much worse. 

Derek refuses to even consider what could’ve happened in that crowd and how it would’ve been totally his fault.

Stiles’ dad is right to be upset. 

“I’m sorry, sir,” Derek finally says, “I promise that we’ve taken precautions to never let anything like that happen again. Your son’s safety is of the upmost importance to me.”

Derek glances at Stiles and tries to figure out if he can tell how sincere he’s being. This may all be fake, but that doesn’t mean that Derek doesn’t care about Stiles as a person. 

In fact, he’s starting to think they may even be friends. And in Derek’s heart he knows there may even be potential there for something more. 

If not for the incredibly weird fake relationship part of it of course.

He turns his gaze back to the Sheriff and makes eye contact despite how much he doesn’t want to. His mom had always instilled in him that to make people believe you, you have to be willing to let them see your eyes and your vulnerability. 

The Sheriff stares him down for a moment and then slightly nods.

By Stiles and Melissa’s relieved sighs, it’s clear he passed some sort of test. 

“Good, so now we can eat,” Stiles proclaims and immediately starts digging in. 

Derek rolls his eyes fondly at Stiles, and he catches Stiles’ dad watching him before he turns back to his food. 

He can’t tell if it’s a good thing or not, but he does suppose that if they’re trying to pull off a fake relationship, he probably needs to step up his flirting game. 

It shouldn’t be a problem for him either; he and Stiles’ natural banter isn’t that far from flirty as it is. 

“So Derek, what do you do?” Melissa asks kindly as a way to get the conversation moving again, but everyone stops to stare at her.

“Being a prince is a full-time gig, Mel. Have to lie on a chaise and get fed grapes for hours every day,” Stiles teases and nudges Derek’s shoulder with a wink. 

Derek retaliates by flicking part of his roll at Stiles.

Stiles laughs and eats the roll without a second-thought.

“Ignoring that,” Melissa continues, “I meant what do you do as a prince? What fills up your days?” 

Stiles opens his mouth to talk, but Melissa interrupts him, “And I don’t want to hear another word out of your mouth.” 

Derek replies, aware that he really needs to speak carefully, “Well, each day is different, but I spend a lot of time checking up to see how new policies are being instated and how people are responding to them. Last week, I visited a new hospital up north that was implementing a new version of emergency response and trauma care that’s going really well, so that was good to learn.”

“And you know a lot on the topic?” Stiles’ dad asks. He’s less combative than he was earlier, but clearly still suspicious of Derek and his intentions.

“I have to,” Derek starts before stopping to finish chewing, “My mom only gets one vote in the senate so any policies are government decided. I think it’s incredibly important to make sure that politics don’t get in the way and that the programs put in place are still efficient.”

The Sheriff nods in agreement, but has another question. “So what do you think about your mom’s latest push for security reform?” 

Derek quickly glances at Stiles, but he looks as nervous as Derek feels. 

“I think it’s necessary, Sir. I don’t know that either party has come up with a full solution, but I do think it’s important to have new checks in place for our internal security like the police force as well as better considerations for our foreign policies as well.”

“And what makes you think that?” The Sheriff presses. 

“John,” Melissa says with a gentle hand on his arm. 

“He’s the prince of our country, I think he should have an opinion on these things.”

“I agree,” Derek states, “I base my opinion on the research I do. I make sure to talk to people who are actively dealing with these issues instead of just working off the words of others.”

“That’s smart. What’s your opinion on the current bill that is set to go before the senate?”

“I’d like to think it’ll pass. I certainly want gay marriage to remain legalized after the trauma of the past several years. I know there are some people who are still reluctant, but it seems undeniable now that everyone deserves that equal right.”

This may be a bit of an interrogation, but Derek doesn’t mind. He’s spent years learning about this stuff and forming opinions on all of it so it’s only natural for him to love to get into intelligent conversations about it. 

He and the Sheriff manage to lose themselves in a deep conversation about the issues, with the Sheriff introducing some interesting points that Derek hadn’t considered before. 

They get sufficiently lost in the conversation that he doesn’t even notice how long they debate until Melissa coughs pointedly when she brings dessert back into the room.

Derek blushes and glances at Stiles, who’s laughing lightly. 

“Well, I get why my son likes you so much,” the Sheriff says, “Anyone who can argue that well is a win in his book and mine.”

Now it’s Stiles’ turn to blush as Derek raises his eyebrows at him teasingly. 

“Come on, dad,” Stiles says before anyone can add another word. “Let’s go outside before you can embarrass me any further.”

“But what about dessert?” The Sheriff whines as Stiles literally tries to pull him out the door.

The door shuts behind them and Derek’s left alone with Melissa. 

“So I have to ask, how did you and Stiles meet? I know they’re saying it was through Lydia, but I know her well enough to know she’d never introduce Stiles to you willingly,” Melissa jokes.

Derek splutters the drink of water he’d just taken and tries to figure out how best to respond. 

“Well, uh, we actually met at a club,” Derek says, deciding honesty, or at least half-honesty is his best bet here. 

Melissa laughs. “Nothing wrong with that and much more realistic. I wasn’t quite buying the whole ‘you met through a friend of a friend and it was instant kismet’ thing.”

Derek runs his fingers through his hair awkwardly. “That’s true, but Stiles is just a force to be reckoned with. He’s passionate and fun and he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the fact that I’m royalty. It may not have been instant kismet, but he was instantly the most refreshing person I’ve ever met.”

He hadn’t realized he’d been getting quite so passionate, but it’s all true. Stiles is probably the most unique person Derek’s ever met, but in the best way. 

Melissa beams back at him; her eyes glistening slightly. 

“That’s good. That’s how you should feel about the person you’re with. Just watch, it’s going to be a couple years from now and you’ll be saying all the same things, but to Stiles during your wedding vows.” 

Derek lets himself ponder that for a half second before he very firmly shuts it down. 

This isn’t real. He and Stiles aren’t real. Maybe they’ll be friends after this, but the odds that they’ll ever be anything more are incredibly slim. 

No matter how much it may seem otherwise sometimes.

“Maybe,” he finally replies, even though he knows that that’s probably not true. 

Despite how much he’s starting to want it to be. 

\--  
“Really dad?” Stiles whines after dragging them both out to the back porch.

“What? I’d assume your boyfriend knows that you like him?” His dad says as he eyes Stiles.

If Stiles hadn’t spent years under that gaze, he’d totally crack, but thankfully, he’s perfected that art of lying to his dad.

Well, maybe not thankfully, but at least right now it’s coming in handy. 

“It’s new enough that I just, well, I don’t- Just let me pretend to not be a huge nerd for a bit, please?”

His dad laughs and claps him on the back.

“Sure thing, son.” 

They both stare off into space for a moment, lost in their own thoughts. 

“I have to ask you something,” his dad asks. 

“Yeah?” 

“The hospital called and said that a large chunk of the remaining bills have been paid off.”

Stiles freezes. He should’ve realized that his dad would notice that. 

“That wasn’t a question,” Stiles finally responds. 

“No, I guess it wasn’t. You know you don’t have to do that right? I don’t know where you got that money, but I don’t want you to feel the need to do something you don’t want to just to take care of my medical bills.”

“You’re my dad, of course, I’m going to take care of you if I can, but don’t worry about it. I promise the money came with very few strings attached,” Stiles jokes. 

“Stiles, it shouldn’t need to come with any strings.”

“Dad, don’t worry about it,” Stiles insists. 

He turns to meet his dad’s gaze and tries to pour as much confidence in his expression as he can. 

His dad opens his mouth to say something more so Stiles thinks of the first thing he can to switch the conversation topic because the more his dad thinks about it, the more he’ll probably realize the truth and Stiles can’t deal with being that much of a disappointment in one day. 

“You didn’t have to be so harsh with him earlier, you know?” 

He was going to let it slide since they seemed to have moved past it, but something about Stiles can’t seem to let go. It may have just been his excuse to change topics, but he feels a need to say something too. 

“I ran off that night. It really wasn’t his fault,” Stiles concludes.

“Okay, I’m sorry. It’s still my job to make sure that you’re going to be okay.”

“I’m going to be fine.”

The Sheriff turns so that he’s facing Stiles completely. “I want you to be more than fine though. Does he make you happy?”

“Yes,” Stiles answers with no hesitation because at least that much is true.

He and Derek may have fought non-stop in the beginning, but now, things like that morning with the flour fight, it’s some of the most fun Stiles has had in years. 

It’s not fun in the same way he has fun with Scott or Danny or Lydia too. It’s different, and, yeah, it makes him happy. 

“That’s good,” his dad replies. “Are you and Derek going to be the next Scott and Allison around here? I know Mel wouldn’t mind planning another wedding.” 

“Maybe,” Stiles says softly. 

He’s starting to think that if he and Derek were actually together, they’d have a chance at being a fairytale romance too. 

“You may not be the most conventional couple, but it’s clear that you care about each other. I’m happy as long as you’re happy, even if it means that your life gets incredibly more complicated from this point on,” the Sheriff finishes with a pat to Stiles’ shoulder. 

And isn’t that the truth.

For so many reasons.

He’s never going to be not connected to Derek from this point on. He’s always going to have ‘Dated a Prince’ on his resume. He’s going have to be more cautious about things and he has to accept security at least for the time being. 

But none of that makes him think he wouldn’t be happy spending his life with Derek. 

And that right there is how Stiles knows he’s in too deep, but the exit was miles ago and he drove straight on past. 

He’s well aware that he’s on this path now until it all goes up in a fire-y crash. 

Stiles only hopes that there will be something left of him in the wreckage that he can salvage.


	6. just minding my own

_Sadly my dear readers, #Sterek has stayed well and truly out of the spotlight for several days. We haven’t been able to catch a glimpse of either Stiles or Derek. That leads our imagination (okay, our fantasies) to hope they’re holed up in a bed somewhere together, but for now, it all remains a mystery. However, we have learned a juicy new piece of gossip. Apparently, several nights ago, the Prince went for dinner at Stiles’ childhood home so that he could meet his dad! If this isn’t a sign of good things, we don’t know what is! (Is it too soon to start dreaming up wedding plans? We may have already started a Pinterest page devoted to it #sterekwedding)._

Stiles is going to go crazy.

He might already be crazy, to be honest.

It feels like he is at least.

He’s been locked in his apartment for four days now without any contact with anyone- in person at least- since Scott’s on a business trip and Lydia claims she’s too busy. Even Danny has too much to do to visit Stiles in his time of need.

Okay, he may be being a little over dramatic, but it sucks. 

He’s done way more work on his comic than he could’ve already imagined and his brain needs a break before he continues.

He’s already watched the entire first season of Avatar: the Last Airbender and while he’s totally game to binge the rest, he really just wants to get out of his apartment. 

On the second day of his forced imprisonment, he tried to claim that he had no food so he had to at least be able to go grocery shopping, but instead of agreeing, Lydia had sent Boyd with bags of groceries, way too healthy to be anything Stiles actually wants. 

He should’ve known that when Lydia decides that you need to be off the radar, you better believe you won’t be finding any way around that. 

Stiles throws his phone a longing look, but no one’s responded. 

He’s pretty sure Lydia somehow got them all to agree to it. He would’ve expected better from his friends, but it’s totally possible that she found a way.

Apparently they all take way too much joy in his suffering.

But there is one other person who probably is equally miserable in all of this. 

Stiles picks up his phone and sends a text before he can change his mind. He can’t help but overthink nearly everything he does relating to Derek now.

_Dereeeekkkk, help me, I’m dying._

It’s only a minute later when he receives a response. 

**That’s too bad.**

Stiles grins as he flops back on his couch to type his answer.

_You have to save me._

**From what? Boredom?**

_Exactly._

Stiles waits a couple minutes, but he doesn’t get any response and that just won’t do. If he has to be miserable, he’s certainly taking Derek down with him. 

_Dereeeekkkk._

_Der-bear?_

_Derek, the darling of my eye?_

_Please?_

_DEREK?_

_His Royal Highness Derek!_

He spams Derek’s phone until he receives a reply.

**What.**

_Hi._

**Are you fucking kidding me?**

Somehow, Stiles knows that even if his text sounds angry, Derek actually isn’t. That if he was pissed at Stiles he would just turn his phone off and not respond. 

_I told you I needed to be ~~entertained~~ saved. _

**Lydia still thinks we need another day out of the spotlight so that things can die down a little and she’s probably right.**

_Pssh._

**I’m not about to be the one who gets you hurt, not after meeting your dad.**

Stiles wishes that it didn’t make his heart beat a little faster that Derek’s accepting their forced lockdown because he wants to protect Stiles. 

He knows most of that is just a healthy dose of fear for his dad, but at least some of it has to be just for Stiles. 

_There has to be some way for me to get out of this apartment._

Stiles doesn’t get a response for several minutes and he glances sadly at his TV knowing his fate for the next couple of days is to be lost in a binge-watching haze. 

He’s just started his next episode when Derek finally texts back.

**Boyd can pick you up and you can come over for family game night.**

It takes Stiles a minute to process that. 

Because Derek’s seriously suggesting that Stiles go to his home which happens to be the palace, to play games with the royal family and that it’s enough of a common thing that he calls it family game night. 

It just seems so normal if you remove the fact that they’re royalty. 

_Wait, seriously?_

**Yeah.**

And it’s clear that’s all he’s getting from Derek on the matter. 

Stiles pretends to debate with himself for half a moment, but he knows his curiosity’s going to win. Learning what family game night consists of for the royal family is just too tempting. 

_Okay._

**He’ll be there in twenty.**

He spends the entire car ride with Boyd trying to pester anything out of him about what game night with the Hales is like, but Boyd gives him nothing. 

Boyd leads him through the halls of the palace and Stiles can’t help but to look at every last detail.

He hadn’t really cared the last few times he’d been here, always worried about something else, but now it all just adds to the interesting person that is Derek Hale. 

He’d had his preconceived notions about Derek and royalty and some of them have been right, but most of them have been horribly wrong. 

Boyd points him to a room and Stiles enters warily; he’d half been expecting an announcement of “Mr. Stiles Stilinski, here to see her Royal Highness.”

However, it’s a casual room, not far from his own family room at home and Derek, his sisters, and his mom are all in casual clothing and sweatpants, sitting around a coffee table playing cards. 

“Uh? Hi?” Stiles says when none of them seem to notice his entrance.

“Hello,” Talia greets him with a smile. She stands up from her place on the couch and walks over to welcome Stiles. She leads him over to the sofa and gestures for him to take a seat. “We normally stick to card games, but we’re happy to mix it up tonight with you here.” 

Stiles glances at the game and it’s clear from the set-up that they’re playing some sort of four person card game and he suddenly feels even more out of place than before. 

He essentially forced his way onto Derek’s evening with his family just because he was bored and now they’re going to have to change what they do just to accommodate him. 

“I can just sit out and watch or something. I wouldn’t want to mess up your night.” 

“Nonsense. We’re glad to have you here,” Talia insists.

“We can just rotate players. That’s what we do when the fiancé of mine isn’t actually working on saving the world and can show up for once,” Laura says with a laugh, “I’m going to grab a snack anyways.” 

She stands up and Stiles slides to her place on the floor across from Derek. He glances up at Derek who rolls his eyes at his family’s antics and Stiles immediately feels more at ease. 

“Hey,” Derek says softly. 

Stiles smiles back at him, starting to finally feel relaxed after days of tension. 

And just like that, he’s thrown into the Hale family game night. They start a new game of Kemps and he and Derek work out a signal. 

Stiles is competitive to say the least, but no matter how much he tries he can’t figure out Cora and Talia’s signal nor can he get Derek to pick up on theirs apparently. 

It’s not even funny how bad they’re losing. 

Cora deals out the next hand and Stiles picks up his fourth ten. 

He tries his and Derek’s first subtle signal, but another round goes by and he doesn’t notice. 

Stiles even gives up trying to watch Cora and Talia and just stares at Derek, but when Derek meets his gaze and Stiles looks pointedly at him, Derek just shrugs in confusion. 

He can see Cora watching him from the corner of his eye and he’s pretty sure she knows he has Kemps, but isn’t calling Block just to frustrate him. 

Stiles gives up all potential subtlety and pulls on his ear and runs his hand through his hair exaggeratedly. 

“Seriously?” He exclaims towards Derek when he still does nothing.

Stiles waves his cards around in the air and Derek’s eyes widen like he’s finally (thankfully) gotten it.

“Oh!” Derek opens his mouth to continue.

But Cora cuts him off. “Block.”

“Come on!” Stiles yells, throwing his cards. 

She smirks at him and he can’t resist laughing a little.

“Sorry,” Derek says sincerely. 

Stiles shrugs; it doesn’t really matter, it is just a game after all. But he also can’t help that he’s competitive as fuck. 

“Okay, we need to play something else. Beating your asses like this isn’t even fun anymore,” Cora complains. 

They end up switching teams with Cora and Stiles on a team and Laura and Derek on another team for Euchre. 

It takes them a few rounds, but soon he and Cora are completely destroying the other team, even when Derek subs out for a moment and Talia plays a few rounds. 

He can glance at Cora and somehow just know which card to call as trump. 

They even manage to create an intricate high-five for after they win each hand. 

“What happened Laura, this used to be your game?” Cora teases.

Stiles can’t resist getting in on the trash talk either, not when he lives for that kind of banter. “Talia, I bet you wish you had let me sit out now or do you enjoy getting your ass kicked by a commoner?”

Stiles blanches the moment the words leave his mouth and he realizes what he just said. 

She could totally put him in prison for like, sassing the queen. It could happen. 

“Excuse you,” Talia says harshly. A serious expression painted across her face. 

He’s sure this is how he dies.

“I’m- uh- I didn’t- Sorry,” Stiles stutters, keeping his eyes firmly on the ground at least until Cora cracks and starts howling with laughter.

He looks at Talia and it becomes clear that she was just playing him as her eyes crinkle up in a smile. 

Everyone bursts out laughing and Laura even crumbles over, holding her stomach she’s laughing so hard. 

Stiles can’t resist the urge to look at Derek. They make eye contact briefly; Derek’s reaction is the only one Stiles cares about in that moment. 

He can’t even totally figure out what he feels when he looks at Derek, but mostly it’s just this sense that they’re in this together, that they get each other, almost that they’re the only ones that matter too. 

Stiles is pretty sure his heart flutters with how right all of this feels. 

\--  
Game night has always been Derek’s favorite way of spending time with his family. 

He loves being able to spend time with them without any of them having any pressure to be anything more than just themselves. 

And he's never had more fun with them than tonight. 

When Stiles is there. 

Stiles is a gravitational force that Derek can't seem to stop wanting to be around. He didn't have to invite him to family game night but something made Derek want him there and now he's sure it was the right choice. 

It takes him a bit before it clicks in as to why that may be.

It’s only after Stiles openly teases Talia that Derek finally gets it.

Stiles doesn’t care that they’re royalty and he’s never treated them any differently because of it.

Well, that’s not fully true since he’s certainly mocked Derek a lot for it, but he’s never treated it as something special, as something admirable. It’s not something Derek is used to dealing with, but it makes him feel even more settled in his own skin. 

With Stiles playing games with his family, Derek doesn’t think about how he wishes it was always them just being normal, instead somehow, he enjoys it more.

He can’t resist continuously sneaking glances at Stiles, especially not when most of the time, Stiles is looking at him too. But Derek knows he can’t risk more than passing glances, not when his mom and sisters would be able to so easily read what Laura would probably call his ‘heart eyes’ for Stiles. 

This isn’t like with Stiles’ dad when it didn’t matter if he seemed into Stiles because it was supposed to seem that way. 

With his family, they’re supposed to be acquaintances, friends at best.

But Derek knows that it’s far past that point for him already. 

He watches Talia and Laura try and beat Cora and Stiles for one last game and he can’t help but wish that he could have this forever. 

He wants Stiles and the normalness he brings even while managing to be the least predictable and normal person Derek’s ever met. 

Cora cheers when she and Stiles win the game. 

“Another?” Cora asks jauntily. 

“I’m quitting before I feel even more subpar about my skills,” Laura jokes and stands to stretch. “Shit, it’s getting late.”

And it is. They’ve been playing for hours, long past when they would’ve normally called it quits. 

“Der?” Cora calls to him.

Talia answers before Derek can even open his mouth. “Sorry darling, but I need to go to bed.”

“Fine, fine.” Cora rolls her eyes.

“Speed?” Stiles offers as he shuffles the deck of cards.

“It’s on, Stilinski,” Cora taunts. 

The pair is thoroughly distracted so that they don’t even notice Talia linking her arm through Derek’s. 

“Walk with me?” She asks. 

Derek nods. He knows that it isn’t really a question. 

There’s a solid chance he wasn’t as subtle as he had hoped about Stiles, but then again, letting him come over for game night was already pretty not subtle. 

As they walk slowly down the hall, Talia makes sure they’re a good distance from the room before she begins to talk. “So things are going well?”

“Yeah, we get along fine now. No more ripping each other’s throats out or anything like that.” Derek knows he’s not answering his mom exactly, but he’s not going there unless she drags him unwillingly. 

“No, I wouldn’t think so. Not when you invited him over for family night,” Talia points out.

Derek doesn’t know what he can say so he just shrugs noncommittally and lets Talia decide where she wants the conversation to go next. 

“Well, Stiles is certainly an interesting guy.”

“He’s something,” Derek replies wistfully before he can catch himself. 

He hopes he can pass it off as something sarcastic, fake mocking even, but when his mom stops to look at him he knows it’s a lost cause. 

“Derek- I-“ Talia starts, but then seems to change her mind and says something else. “I haven’t always done right by you, I know that.” 

She holds up her hand to stop him from interrupting. 

“All I want is for you to be happy, but that means that you may need to be a little selfish sometimes and put yourself first, whether with Stiles or to protect yourself so that you don’t get hurt. Just be careful. I don’t want you to get your heart broken because you think you need to, not for me.”

Derek’s always been aware that his mom loves him, but sometimes it seems like she’s the Queen first and his mom second, but then she does or says things like this and he knows that that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

But he doesn’t know what she wants him to say. She can clearly tell that his feelings for Stiles couldn’t be more different than when things started, but that doesn’t mean he wants to end things just to protect his heart.

The whole thing came into play because they both needed it. Derek needed an easy committed relationship and Stiles needed the money. 

Derek’s not going to ruin that for Stiles just because he may be developing feelings. 

“Okay,” Derek finally settles on. It’s really all he can say. But now he and his mom know that he isn’t doing this for her. 

He’s in it at least until the contract ends and he’ll deal with his heart after that, but right now, he’s focusing on the fact that he gets to spend more time with Stiles and ignoring the truth about their fake relationship. 

Ignorance is bliss after all. Right?


	7. tell me no lies

_After being a little worried that things had cooled down between our favorite prince and his beau (#sterek), it seems all our fears were for naught! We just learned exclusively that Derek and Stiles are on their way at this very moment to a secluded location for a romantic getaway. It sounds perfect and we’re so incredibly jealous that we aren’t there. (And that we don’t know where it is). So keep your eyes peeled and your camera phones at the ready, we wouldn’t want to miss this for anything. (However, if no one sees anything, that’s okay because the happy couple is set to appear together at the Queen’s gala tomorrow)._

Derek feels totally at ease driving down the back road with Stiles in the seat next to him. 

Guaranteed there had been about an hour of pure stress before this as they had made sure to be spotted leaving town together but then had to manage to get away from the paparazzi so that they could actually enjoy their night away. 

Derek's really amazed they were able to pull it off. 

It had been after another outing where they were watched constantly that Derek had noticed how much it was all getting to Stiles. And it wasn't like Stiles could just take off either. If he was seen at all, it would lead to insane hordes of people trying to get his picture and stalk him.

So Derek had suggested they go away for a night and Stiles was instantly onboard. 

Convincing his mom and Lydia had been a different story. Especially since the point of them going places was to actually be seen together. But once they saw how badly both Derek and Stiles wanted to go (though for very different reasons in Derek's opinion), they couldn't say no. They had agreed that both of them deserved a break from everything and the only real way they could do that would be to get away for a night. 

Boyd and Erica were behind them on security detail but it was incredibly freeing just to be able to drive and enjoy the countryside with Stiles. 

They've been quiet so far but Derek feels a need to break the silence if only so that Stiles isn't blindsided by Derek being slightly emotional about being back.

"I haven't been up to the cabin in awhile."

"Yeah?" Stiles asks. 

Derek can feel his gaze on him but he keeps his eyes on the road. 

"It never felt right when it had been something I'd always do with my dad."

Derek knows he doesn't have to explain. Stiles may not care about the royal family but absolutely no one missed the news of his dad's death when it happened.

Stiles doesn't reply right away but he does set a comforting hand on Derek's thigh. 

"I haven't actually had a s'more since my mom died," Stiles shares eventually. “She loved them and I just could never bring myself to have one and sort of actively avoided any situation where they were likely to be.”

"We can have some tonight if you want," Derek offers, not trying to push but letting Stiles know that he's here if he wants him to be. “Or not, we can totally avoid campfires if you want too.”

"No, I'd like that," Stiles says quietly. 

When Derek glances over, Stiles is looking at his lap but he looks up and smiles when he catches Derek's gaze. 

They're silent for the next five minutes until they pull up in front of the cabin. 

Stiles barks out a laugh. "You call this a cabin." 

“Um, yeah, what would you call it?” Derek asks as he steps out of the car and grabs his bag.

Stiles stares up at the building. “A mansion? A lodge if I’m being generous.”

“Well, we are the royal family, what’d you expect,” Derek teases, plastering his best shit-eating smirk on his face. 

He gets the finger and a roll of the eyes in response. 

Derek wanders in the house and can’t help but get hit by a wave of nostalgia. He hasn’t been here in years, but yet nothing seems to have changed. 

Except of course that now a gentle hand squeezes his shoulder before moving away. He’d debated about bringing Stiles, but now he knows it was the right decision. 

“Come on, we need to get going if we’re going to be back from our hike in time for sundown.”

“What?” Stiles blanches. “That’s hours away! You promised it was a short hike!”

Derek shrugs innocently. 

Stiles may be protesting but Derek knows he doesn't actually mean any of his threats. 

Except the one about forcing Derek to carry him if he gets too tired. 

Derek totally believes he'll enact that one. 

Overall though, hiking with Stiles is fun. He talks a lot but not too much and he always points out things to Derek that he would never even think to look at. 

They had made it to the lake at the end and both had sat in quiet contentment for a while just soaking in nature and each other's presence. 

Despite having not been back since his dad died, he can't find it in himself to be sad. He's able to remember all the great times and also cherish the fact that he can have new great times here with someone else. 

Stiles had been a steady presence by his side the entire time. 

And now they were more than half way back and even Derek was starting to feel the burn from the long hike. 

"You so owe me a massage after this," Stiles decides, "and not like some baby ass massage but like a full body massage. You aren't skipping anything."

"Anything?" Derek teases. 

"Shut up," Stiles whines as he blushes bright red and shoves Derek. "You know what I meant."

"I'm sure I do," Derek says while giving Stiles a suggestive once over. 

And the truth is that he really wouldn't mind giving Stiles a massage or even more.

In fact, he wants to. 

Things have been different between them lately and it’s not like this all didn’t start because they hooked up after meeting in a club. The physical chemistry is clearly there and now that they’re friends, it’s getting harder and harder to ignore it. 

Well that and the feelings Derek's developed but is resolutely ignoring. 

He knows Stiles is only in this because Lydia forced him to be, but if he decides that he wants a little something on the side too, Derek probably won't be able to turn him down. 

He's going to let himself have whatever he can now and deal with his broken heart later. 

And to think they all got into this mess because Derek didn't want a relationship and didn't want to let himself get to a place where he could be hurt again like this. And yet, here he is. 

"Well if you're offering," Stiles taunts back. 

Derek rolls his eyes, not trusting himself to speak. 

They walk in silence for a couple of moments before Stiles says, "Okay, so be honest with me. How bad is this gala thing going to be? Because I'm envisioning my worst nightmare."

Ah yes, his mom's annual gala that she and Lydia had firmly agreed that he couldn't go to without Stiles by his side. 

He'd tried to get him out of it because it's way too many paparazzi and way too much fake, overly friendly conversation and he's had to do it his whole life. Plus, the whole event is all pomp and circumstance and he's sure Stiles is going to make fun of it the entire time. 

On the other hand though, it'll be nice to have someone with him to laugh over how ridiculous everyone else is. 

"Whatever you imagined when you imagined us before you knew us. That is it," Derek says. 

"So it should be funny at least?" Stiles asks hopefully. 

“Probably,” Derek decides, “But it’s also going to be a lot of people asking a lot of probing, overly personal questions. Just know that I’m there for you if you need me to be; we can always duck out and claim we couldn’t keep our hands off each other or something.”

“Aw thanks beau!” Stiles says with a wink. “But really, thanks, and I’m here for you too, you know.”

“I do,” Derek replies sincerely as he looks back at Stiles. 

He has to look away before he decides to blurt something out that he’d really regret later. 

Well, maybe not regret.

He’d only regret it if it turned out that Stiles didn’t feel the same. 

\--  
Stiles is totally exhausted and not sure he’s ever going to be able to walk again, but also totally content. 

He was going insane being trapped in his apartment or having his every move followed if he left and it’s just really nice to get out for a while and not worry about being watched. 

As much as he doesn’t want to admit it, it’s also really great that Derek’s here too, and he knows how big of a deal it is that Derek’s sharing all of this with him. 

Stiles rarely talks about his mom so he knows to share anything about a parent that’s no longer alive isn’t something anyone would do lightly. He’s pretty sure it speaks to the friendship they’re developing, but all the lines are blurred.

It’s all so fucking complicated. 

He’s not totally sure how he feels or how Derek feels or what’s going to happen or even what could happen. He’s always been a big picture guy, but he doesn’t usually think about the consequences and that’s what he’s embracing today. 

Act now, worry later.

He leaves his room in a pair of sweats and wanders through the house to get outside.

There’s enough rooms that he and Derek don’t need to share, but Stiles still took the room next to Derek’s and has a feeling that he won’t end up there anyways. 

The cool air does wonders for clearing his mind of any lingering worries and he spots Derek firing up the grill.

“Move over, prince. You may be a better cook at any other meal, but I am a grill master.”

“Is that right?” 

“Yup,” Stiles confirms, over popping the ‘p’. 

He pushes Derek aside so he can start grilling, but he can’t help but notice how Derek doesn’t leave his space. 

It’s incredibly domestic, but it’s incredibly nice too. 

It reminds him of back when his mom was still alive and she and his dad would talk while she made dinner. His dad would always help with the small things and they’d never talk about anything too important. It was just about being able to spend time in the other person’s presence. 

They make small talk for a bit before the food’s ready. They sit on the patio overlooking the stunning lake while they eat. 

“So?” Stiles asks after Derek’s taken a few bites.

“I’ll admit it’s good. Not sure if it’s the best or even better than mine, but good.”

Stiles rolls his eyes and meets Derek’s mocking gaze. Derek’s full of total shit and he knows it. 

“You’ve never really told me about your work,” Derek says. 

"That's because it becomes a long and tedious story."

Derek gestures around as if they have nothing but time which Stiles knows is true. 

He usually says that to give people an out because it's not the most interesting story but if Derek cares enough to hear it then he might as well tell it. 

"Well, I entered college to study forensic science and I loved it. I mean I was always drawing and writing on the side too but I was totally content with my future in science and I had all the obvious connections too but then shit happened a semester before graduation and I had to drop out."

"Shit happened?" Derek probes, but kindly, like he knows there's more to the story and he's not forcing Stiles to tell it.

And that's good because Stiles isn't quite ready to get into all of the emotions of it. They still have so much time left in the day and he's not sure what'll happen if he starts pouring out his emotions over one area of his life. 

It's likely that he'll end up spewing about everything. 

And he's still not even sure what everything is. 

Which makes it really hard to know what he should or shouldn’t be sharing, since at this rate, it’s likely that he would start talking and end up only meaning some of what he says, or saying the wrong thing and have it not be what he means at all. 

It’s better for him to avoid it all. 

"Shit happened," Stiles repeats, "But it's turned into a blessing. Now I've been working on my comic and shopping it around to several publishers. I've definitely had an interest level boost since all this which was an unexpected bonus."

"See? Knowing royalty has it perks."

"Eh? Debatable," Stiles jokes. 

Derek laughs heartily. "So what's it about?"

"Well, it's the story of two sisters who can hop back and forth between two parallel universes but depending on which one they’re in only one of the girls has powers so they have to work together but they both get a chance to kick ass too."

"That sounds really great."

Derek's smiling at him sincerely and Stiles feels himself warm all over. There's something incredibly great about knowing that the people you care about think that what you're doing is worthwhile. 

Even when the rest of the world doesn't get it, it doesn't matter as long as they do. 

Stiles isn't quite sure when Derek joined that list for him. 

"I think so," Stiles says with false bravado, trying to feel a little less vulnerable at the moment. 

Derek seems to get that because he switches the conversation to ask Stiles about his favorite movie and it just goes from there.

Before Stiles even knows what's happened, the sun has dipped below the horizon and they've been talking for hours. This is exactly what Stiles has always wanted from a relationship and what his past relationships had all been lacking. 

The ease and comfort level is remarkable. 

It feels real. But the tiny voice in Stiles' head reminds him that it's not. 

Stiles shuts it out firmly. 

"Do you realize it's been two whole months since we met?" Derek blurts out in disbelief. 

"Fuck that's depressing."

"What is?" Derek asks, just a tiny bit defensive. 

"That it has been two months since I've had sex," Stiles replies jauntily, "like you were good sure, but two month draught good, I'm not sure."

"I'm sure if we had more than that one time, you'd be sure. But then again you'd never be able to last two months again," Derek smirks. 

"Please, like you could last that long either," Stiles rebuts.

He's desperately trying not to think about how good the sex was and how long this drought has been and how much he'd like to break it with Derek now. 

"No I probably couldn't," Derek replies thoughtfully. 

They both fall silent for a moment and Stiles becomes aware of one thing. 

That he needs to not be next to Derek right now or he's not sure what he's going to do. 

Especially not if they keep talking about sex. 

With each other. 

"I'm going for a swim," Stiles decides. 

He wants to kick himself and cheer himself on simultaneously because this is probably not going to help anything, not when he’s feeling totally uninspired about finding his bathing suit. 

“You’re welcome to join me if you want,” Stiles tosses over his shoulder as he walks down towards the water.

He pulls his shirt off with more bravado than he usually feels, but instead of feeling vulnerable and self-conscious like he normally would, he feels empowered.

He just put the ball in Derek’s court and he’s more than ready to see where this all takes them. 

\--  
Derek feels gob smacked.

Even though he sort of realizes that he shouldn’t. Stiles is many things, and bold has always been one of them. In fact, it was one of the things that attracted Derek to him in the first place.

He can’t seem to tear his eyes away from Stiles, who’s in the process of taking off his shorts and boxers as he heads towards the water.

Derek feels entranced by the sight of the moonlight on the long, lean lines of Stiles’ body.

If he hadn’t been sure of how he felt before this, he knows definitively now that he’s never been more attracted to anyone more. He definitely wouldn’t be able to last another two months if sex with Stiles was an option. And it almost seems like it is. Stiles told him to join if he wanted to at least.

And fuck, Derek wants. 

He doesn’t waste a second more as he tugs his shirt off and follows Stiles’ path down to the beach. 

Derek can feel Stile’s gaze on him from where he stands about chest-deep in the water. By the time Derek wades over to Stiles, Stiles is floating on his back staring at the stars. 

Derek forces himself to look away from Stiles and up towards the sky as well. 

“You’ve got a nice place here,” Stiles says. 

“Thanks.”

“For a royal,” Stiles teases with a wicked grin.

Derek splashes him and Stiles immediately retaliates until they’re in a full-blown water war. 

He dives beneath the surface of the water so he can swim around Stiles. He can hear murmurs of Stiles complaining about cheating.

Derek pops up behind Stiles and immediately wraps his arms around him so that Stiles can’t splash him. 

“Fine, fine, you win,” Stiles concedes. He pats Derek’s arm until Derek loosens his arms enough for Stiles to turn around. 

Derek’s well aware of the fact that he should drop his arms, that there’s no one here that this is a show for, but he just can’t. 

Not when Stiles is looking at him like that. 

Not when they both begin to move in. 

Not when he wants to do this with Stiles for the rest of his life, he’s pretty sure.

And it’s that thought that actually causes Derek to pull back. 

He thinks a flicker of disappointment passes over Stiles’ face before he pulls out of Derek’s hold and swims away.

Derek’s remise to see him go, but he also can’t do this to himself. He’s been here before, loving someone who didn’t feel the same and it never leads to anything good. A relationship can only work if the two people are on the same page about what’s going on and what they want, and Derek and Stiles definitely aren’t. 

Not that he’s sure if he loves Stiles yet, it just feels like he could, like he wants to. And he doesn’t want to do anything that Stiles is going to regret tomorrow. 

He swims around for a bit even after Stiles yells at him to let him know he’s going to start a fire to warm up by, but Derek soaks in the water and aims to clear his head. 

By the time he exits, his skin is starting to prune up, but he’s sure of one thing. 

He’s going to resolutely forget about the deal and all of its complications and instead just go with whatever he’s feeling. 

He’ll deal with whatever happens later; he’s always been great at pretending.

That’s practically what being royalty is after all. 

\--  
Stiles watches Derek’s face through the flickers of fire. 

He’s not quite sure what happened out there in the water or why Derek pulled back, but he’s also not sure that it counts as a rejection since Stiles didn’t really put himself out there at all. 

Plus, they’re stuck together for the next several hours at least. He’s had a good time so far and Derek’s become a good friend. A good friend who is way too lost in his own head right now in Stiles’ opinion. 

Stiles hops up and grabs all the makings for s’mores from the table, but when he returns to the fire he sits in the chair next to Derek.

He pops a marshmallow on each of the roasting sticks and passes one of them to Derek. 

Derek smiles at him in thanks, and Stiles has to look away quickly before he gets totally sucked into Derek’s gaze. 

His ADHD has always meant that he’s not super big on eye contact; eyes and mind always roaming too much for that, but something with Derek makes it easy. He wants to meet Derek’s gaze and stare at him for hours as life happens around them.

Stiles has even found himself wanting to look at Derek to see his reaction and meet his eye after anything happens, even if he isn’t there. 

“You’re a little quiet,” He says. 

Derek shrugs as he carefully spins his marshmallow in the fire. “Just got a lot on my mind I guess. But I’m sorry, you didn’t ask for that.”

“Nah, it’s fine, dude. It happens to all of us.”

Derek nods, but he doesn’t look away from Stiles. 

Stiles keeps his gaze on his marshmallow, but he somehow feels drawn to tell Derek everything he left out of his story earlier. “I don’t think I really spoke for a week after my dad’s accident.”

From Derek’s expression, he can tell he gets that this is the ‘shit that happened’ that he talked around before. 

“He got shot on the job and it was touch and go for awhile and then he had a long rehab. I know Mel would’ve taken care of him, but she didn’t really have the time so I just took it on.”

Stiles takes a deep breath. “I had always planned on going back, but once my dad started to get better and I mentioned it, I don’t know, I could just tell that he wasn’t as happy about the idea as he once had been. I think he got scared that something would happen to me too.”

“And at first I wasn’t happy about it, but now I love my comic and I wouldn’t want to do anything else. It’s the perfect marriage of my love of drawing and storytelling and the solving mystery skills I learned from all my classes. Writing is like one big mystery anyways; you’ve got to go with your gut and then follow every lead down the path until you figure out what’s right.” Stiles lets out a self-conscious laugh and shrugs. 

“It’s just strange to be happy about where your life landed, but to also hate the circumstances of how it got there, to be forced into it, you know?”

“I know way too well.” Derek lets out a little bitter laugh. “I love being able to help people and feeling like I get to actually make a difference, but I never had an option to do anything else. It’s always been this. I shouldn’t even be that surprised that I ended up in a fake relationship for the press considering so much of my life is fabricated already.”

Stiles passes Derek a graham cracker and chocolate and squeezes his knee. 

Derek smiles at him gratefully. 

“I feel that. I don’t like lying to my dad about any of this, but I also feel like I haven’t been fully honest with him in years so what’s one more to add. And this,” Stiles continues with a wave to emphasize everything around them. “This is crazy because Lydia basically told me I had to do this and I expected it to be absolutely miserable. I figured this would be a way to finally take care of all my dad’s medical expenses so I’d force myself to live through it and enjoy not being stressed about money for once, but things have turned out okay, right?”

Stiles turns to look at Derek for his answer as much as he wishes he didn’t need to. 

He feels so much for Derek already, as a friend, as possibly something more, and it’d be so easy for Derek to destroy him by telling him that it means nothing to him. 

“Definitely. Of all the people I could’ve been fake dating, I’m glad it’s you,” Derek says sincerely. 

Stiles flushes, but can’t help the smile that overtakes his face. 

He takes a large bite of his s’more. 

It’s just as good as he remembered. He’s glad to share this with Derek just like he’s glad to have been able to be the first person Derek came back here with. 

“My dad loved you by the way,” Stiles finally reveals, “I swear he was about two seconds away from mentioning grandkids when I talked to him on the phone the other day.”

“I’m sure we’d rope him into babysitting,” Derek jokes. 

“Maybe then he’d actually retire,” Stiles says, unable to keep a thread of bitterness from his voice. “He should’ve after his shooting, everyone knows it, but for some reason he won’t give it up.”

“It’s hard to give up the things that you love.”

“Yeah, but if you’re not doing your job as well as you once were,” Stiles trails off.

It takes him a second, but then he freezes. 

He’d forgotten who he was talking too. His dad could get into major trouble if Derek decided to talk to certain people and say that he didn’t think he was up to par. 

Before he can even say anything though, Derek cuts him off. “I won’t say anything. This is us, just blowing off steam about our lives. I wouldn’t betray you like that.”

Derek looks completely sincere, and Stiles believes him. It’d be impossible not to at this point. 

He wants to kiss Derek so bad, and he can’t think of any good reason not to. 

Stiles leans in and presses their lips together before he can talk himself out of it. 

\--  
Derek’s so wrapped up in thoughts of how nice it feels to be this open and honest with someone that he doesn’t even realize that Stiles is kissing him until Stiles pulls away. 

“Uh, sorry, you clearly didn’t want that,” Stiles mutters, looking way to downtrodden for Derek’s liking. “You didn’t kiss back and you totally pulled away earlier and clearly I need about a thousand signals before I get a hint.”

“I didn’t pull away now,” Derek says quickly. 

Stiles glances at him questioningly, and Derek responds in the only way he think will work.

By kissing Stiles again. 

He loses himself in it. 

He’s pretty sure several graham crackers get crushed when Stiles moves to straddle him and Derek keeps a tight grip on Stiles’ hips. 

Derek pulls back only to catch his breath and rests his forehead against Stiles’. 

“What is this?” He asks softly, incredibly afraid of the answer. 

“I don’t know,” Stiles finally replies, “But I think we should let ourselves have whatever this is. At least for tonight. We both want this. Right?”

“Yes,” Derek punctuates with another kiss. 

“Then I don’t see why two consenting adults shouldn’t have sex. We’ll just pretend it’s less complicated than it actually is.”

Derek doesn’t know what any of this means or what Stiles feels, but he can’t resist the pull of the moment. 

He hopes that this means Stiles wants something more too, but he can’t be sure. 

“Okay,” He decides. “But I’m not doing this here.”

They make sure the fire is going to die out naturally before they head inside. 

Stiles pulls him along to Derek’s bedroom and immediately pushes him back against the door to kiss him. 

Derek gets lost in the feeling of Stiles against him. 

There’s a similar sense of urgency to the first time they did this, but it’s also so incredibly different. 

He manages to get Stiles undressed and he angles them to move towards the bed. Stiles falls backward and eagerly eyes Derek as he hastily takes off his clothes. 

Derek quickly moves to bracket Stiles in and leans down to kiss him. Stiles nips at his lips in return and Derek can tell by the eager thrust of his hips that he wishes Derek would speed things up.

But instead Derek slows things down even further.

If this is all he gets, he wants to enjoy it. 

Make it so that at the very least, Stiles will always remember it. 

He’s not letting himself drift into the notion that maybe he can make Stiles want it again if it’s good enough. Derek’s going to enjoy the moment and ignore that there’s any context at all outside of it. 

He kisses his way down Stiles’ body, taking his time to memorize every last mole and every sound that Stiles makes. 

When he reaches Stiles’ dick, he pointedly doesn’t touch it as he pays attention to all the skin around it. 

Derek smirks when Stiles groans, “Der- come on, please.”

He takes Stiles into his mouth and slowly moves up and down. He can tell it’s not nearly enough for Stiles, but it’s enough for now. 

Derek reaches for the lube that he tossed on the bed earlier and gently circles Stiles’ hole. 

“Is this okay?” He asks. 

“Yes,” Stiles says enthusiastically, “Can we please continue the dick sucking?” Stiles gently pushes Derek’s head back towards his dick.

Derek laughs before doing as advised. 

“See, so much bett-“ Stiles starts, but cuts off when Derek eases a finger into him. 

It doesn’t take long before Stiles is properly stretched and clearly ready for more, from the way he’s moving his hips against Derek. Derek would happily go down on him for hours, but even he’s losing his patience right now. 

Stiles pulls Derek up so he can kiss him soundly. 

“Okay, okay, I’m ready,” Stiles says hurriedly. 

“You sure?”

Stiles stares at him with the best ‘are you fucking kidding me’ expression. 

“Yes. I’m sure. Now get in me.” 

Derek slowly sinks inside and can’t help but groan at the sensation. 

He gives Stiles a moment to adjust before he begins to move. 

Stiles had his head thrown back and his eyes closed as he lets himself enjoy the moment, but Derek needs him. 

He needs to know that he’s right here with him, that this matters to him too.

“Stiles,” Derek murmurs gently until Stiles opens his eyes and looks at him. 

Derek leans down to kiss him, but he pulls away after a short moment and keeps their eyes locked together. 

He doesn’t know how he ever thought this was similar to the first time they had sex. This is different from anyone Derek’s ever had sex with. 

Derek pours everything he’s feeling into the moment. He doesn’t know how to say any of it, but he’s hoping that maybe Stiles will be able to get it from this. 

And it seems like he does, at least on some level, from the way he’s clutching at Derek and how his gaze never leaves his. 

When Derek is finally close to coming, he moves one of his arms down to wrap a hand around Stiles’ dick. 

Their orgasms almost seem like an afterthought to the entire act, and Derek would be content just to lay here wrapped up with Stiles for the rest of the night.

But after a moment, Stiles pushes him away so he can climb out of bed to clean up. 

Derek tries not to let himself think anything of it.

Stiles returns with a washcloth, wipes Derek’s chest and flops down on top of him. Derek grunts in fake annoyance like it isn’t the only thing Derek wants right now. 

That there isn’t a strong possibility that Stiles in his arms is the only thing Derek needs for the rest of his life.


	8. we must stay alive

_The gala is tonight my friends! We are on full #sterek watch and we can’t wait to see the couple together in their first public appearance together. We’ll also be able to see how Stiles fits in with the royal family. Just think in a year we could be at an event much like this one, but with an entirely different purpose. Yes, we’re definitely continuing our dreams of a #sterek wedding. Is it just us or does it feel like romance is in the air? We can just tell something’s going to happen tonight._

Stiles wakes up slowly, more content than he’s been in years.

He's still not totally sure what came over him or what gave him the courage to put himself out there last night, but fuck, he's so glad he did. 

Well, mostly glad. 

It's just feeling a little like he made it abundantly clear to Derek that what he's feeling isn't fake. 

And sure, Derek certainly acted like he feels the same. That was definitely not how you fuck a one night stand or even a fuck buddy. (Stiles would say it was making love but that’s way too much for him to admit to right now. But staring into Derek's eyes as they slow-boned? That was some serious connection.)

But the issue is that Derek hasn't said anything. 

Admittedly, Stiles hasn't confessed to anything either but he was the one making all the first moves. This whole situation is just incredibly complicated. And it could be so good if they could just work their shit out and make things real, but it also could be terrible if Stiles told Derek that he has feelings and then Derek turned him down. 

You can't really keep faking a relationship after that. 

Derek's arm twitches from where it's thrown across Stiles' waist as he slowly wakes up. 

Stiles turns his head towards him and gives him a shy smile. 

"Hey."

"Hey yourself," Derek replies. He leans in slightly and Stiles would swear he's about to kiss him but instead he just reaches around Stiles to grab his phone. "Apparently we have about five more minutes before Erica and Boyd burst in here to drag our asses out."

"We better get up then," Stiles says with a deep yawn. "Even though I’m totally about to sleep the entire car ride back while you drive."

"You could drive," Derek offers. 

And Stiles is tempted. It's a nice car, but sleep. 

"Nah." Stiles pulls on his boxers and pats Derek on his face as he walks past him to leave the room. "You have fun with that." 

“I need sleep too, you know,” Derek complains.

“Too bad,” Stiles says. 

He feels a little bad because it’s not like either of them got much sleep, but he totally needs to be on his game if he’s going to survive tonight. Derek needs to be too though. Maybe they can switch half way through? It won’t be great, but then at least it’ll be fair. 

He doesn’t know when he decided to start being a nice person, but he’s pretty sure this is what it means for him to be in love. 

Stiles doesn't even bother shutting the door as he changes because at this rate what's the point. He’s half tempted to do the adult thing and just talk about it, but he's lived his life up to this point as an avoider and he can't bear to break the pattern yet. 

At least not until after tonight. 

They need to appear like a happy couple and if Derek tells him it meant nothing then he's sure that there's no way he could fake it. 

Not when he feels so much. 

\--  
Derek can't help the fond smile on his face as Stiles leaves the room. 

He's already sure of a plan so that he doesn't have to drive either, but Stiles doesn't need to know that. 

Derek sits down and rakes his fingers through his hair. 

He's already got everything packed up so really all he needs to do is pull on a shirt and he's good to go, but he needs a moment to compose himself first. 

He'd been about to kiss Stiles this morning but something in Stiles' eyes had shown enough hesitancy that Derek didn't want to risk it. He needs to figure out a plan before he starts to spew feelings left and right. 

If he can tell Stiles that he knows how they can give this a real shot within the context of the fake relationship, then maybe he'll say yes. 

Derek will get some advice about it later but for now they have to live through his mom's gala. 

He heads downstairs just as Boyd's walking through the front door. 

"Tell Erica she can drive the Camaro," Derek says as he tosses Boyd the keys. 

"You never let anyone drive it."

"I'm tired," Derek shrugs.

"I'm sure," Boyd stares at him pointedly but Derek resolutely ignores him. He doesn’t have time or energy to deal with Boyd’s judgment and possible concern right now. 

"Stiles, hurry the fuck up," Derek yells up the stairs. 

"Don't get your royal britches in a bunch. I'm coming," Stiles yells back as he trudges down the stairs. 

"Alright drive me home, prince."

"Yeah I figured I'd get some sleep too. So Boyd's driving."

Stiles stares at him for a moment, dumbfounded and then punches him in the arm.

“Ow, what the fuck,” Derek exclaims. 

“I was actually feeling bad for making you drive, ass. This was totally your plan the whole time, wasn't it?" 

Derek smirks. 

Stiles flips him off, but Derek can already tell that Stiles isn’t actually upset, and if he is, it’s only because Derek actually pulled one over on him. 

Derek watches him walk outside, but his smirk falls away the second he catches Boyd still watching him thoughtfully. 

It's not until half way through the ride back when he wakes up with Stiles’ head on his shoulder that Boyd finally says, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Derek should've known that he couldn't hide anything from anyone for long. 

He'll be lucky if he makes it through the night. 

"Not right now."

Boyd nods in acceptance. 

Derek closes his eyes and let's himself fall back asleep, soothed by the gentle weight of Stiles against him. 

\--  
They were stuck in traffic on the way back so Stiles didn't even have time to go to his apartment before the gala. It's not a huge deal because his suit (custom made and ordered by Lydia) is already at the palace but he would've liked to be able to have a moment or two to himself. 

He was practically shoved into a shower by one of Lydia's minions and was ordered out less than five minutes later. 

Now he's in a suit that fits impeccably well, waiting for final approval from whomever before he and Derek will head out. 

He stares at his reflection in the mirror. Objectively, he knows he looks pretty good, but he doesn't feel anything like himself. He wore sweats to his dad and Mel's engagement party for fuck's sake. 

Stiles can't resist picking at the suit, adjusting it even though he already knows it's sitting perfectly when he hears the door open. 

If being stuck in this suit is his trade for seeing Derek in his then he'll gladly take it. 

Derek cleans up exceptionally well. 

Not that he's going to say that of course.

"I'm pretty sure this is the most princely I've ever seen you look."

Derek gives him a thorough once over. "Is that a good or bad thing?"

"Not sure," Stiles jokes. "I think I need to see how your ass looks first."

Derek laughs, but Stiles can tell that the tips of his ears are pink in embarrassment, but he obligingly turns around. 

"Definitely a good thing," Stiles concludes. 

"Well, if I'm looking princely then you're definitely fitting your role as a prince's date."

"Maybe," Stiles says as he glances at his reflection again. 

"Stiles, you look amazing." 

"Thanks." Stiles shoots a wry grin towards Derek. 

"I know this all can be a bit much but I'm here for you," Derek says sincerely, "you know that, right?"

Stiles steps closer to him. 

"Yeah, I do. And I'm here for you too." 

"I know." Derek steps closer and Stiles is really unsure of what he's going for, but Derek keeps his head slightly away as he goes for a hug. 

It's slightly awkward at first but then they both melt into it. 

After a moment, Stiles pulls back. 

"I do have to say though that it's completely ridiculous that we’re taking a limo from here to a building that is legitimately less than a block away," Stiles teases. 

"That I totally agree with," Derek says, "but we have to keep up appearances for the commoners you know."

"You're ridiculous," Stiles says with a grin. 

He pointedly ignores how much it sounds like "I love you."

\--  
The limo eases down the street as people slowly depart from each car at the red carpet. 

Derek closes his eyes for the moment since he knows it’ll take a couple more minutes at least. He knows to take in any last minutes of quiet greedily. 

It doesn't last. 

Not when Stiles' leg is bouncing up and down nonstop. 

Derek sets a hand on it to settle him but he swears he can still feel Stiles vibrating with nervous energy. Stiles is still for a moment more before he grabs Derek's hand and laces it through his. Derek gently squeezes it and offers Stiles what he hopes is a reassuring smile. 

The limo has just stopped in front of the red carpet. 

It's madness outside and it must be especially hard for Stiles to willingly step into it when he knows how hectic it will be. 

"Ready?" Derek asks when he sees their driver standing outside, ready to open the door.

"Don't really have a choice do I?" Stiles says with a sarcastic grin. 

"Nope." Derek knocks on the door and steps outside.

He's immediately blinded by the flashes but he quickly turns around to offer Stiles his hand as he exits the car. Stiles takes it and then lets his arm slide around Derek as they turn toward the photographers. 

He shouldn't be surprised that Stiles is an instant natural when he's prepared for it. 

He's beaming and laughing and teasing Derek. He never loses contact with Derek either. There's absolutely no way anyone could think it wasn't real. Hell, Derek barely even remembers that most of the time. 

Derek had talked to his mom beforehand and she had agreed that they didn't have to do any interviews so they pass through the press easily. 

Once they step inside it's considerably quieter and Derek's grateful that that allows him to hear Stiles' soft gasp of amazement. 

The gala is spectacular as always. It's the closest to stereotypical royal behavior that they get and it's exceptionally so. 

Derek's never sure how they do it but the entire room is twinkling and shining. 

It's practically magical. 

"Holy shit," Stiles breathes out. 

"Impressed?"

"Like you're not?"

"Seen it once..." Derek lies. 

"That's total bullshit," Stiles says knowingly, "Please tell me there's an open bar."

Derek doesn't say anything; he just simply puts a hand on Stiles' back and leads him through the crowd. 

\--  
Stiles is incredibly glad for the drink in his hand. 

Pretty much the second they got them, one of the assistants came over and dragged them away to be introduced to people that Stiles has already forgotten the names of. 

That was about twenty minutes ago and he'd flagged down a waiter to get a refill during that time. 

"Do you even know who any of those people are?" Stiles whispers to Derek. 

"About half and half. I keep track of the people who are either my mom's close allies or her opposition, most of the neutral people I forget."

"Guess it isn't all fun and games then," Stiles says. 

He was aware that being royalty wasn't just a walk in the park especially after all his interactions with the press, but the way Derek is schmoozing everyone tonight and making it seem genuine, that's a true skill. 

It's all been weird and oddly tiring, but it hasn't been that bad, not with Derek by his side. 

"No, it isn't," Derek agrees, "but we do have alcohol."

Stiles clinks his glass against Derek's. 

“I wouldn’t drink too much, boys, alcohol can wreak havoc on your ability to make wise choices,” an old man says to them. 

Derek tenses next to Stiles, but plasters a fake smile on his face.

“Gerard,” Derek greets. 

Now that Stiles knows who he is, the familial resemblance is completely obvious. He certainly has a matching crazy to Kate’s. 

“This is-“ Derek starts to introduce Stiles, but Gerard cuts him off.

“Stiles Stilinski. I’m aware. Friend of my granddaugther’s fiancé. Father is a sheriff.”

Stiles nods. He knows it makes sense for Gerard to know all of that, but it’s also super creepy. 

“That’s correct.”

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen Allison. How is she doing?”

“Good,” Stiles says bluntly, not even trying to be friendly. 

It’s clear that Gerard understands that. “Hm, well, I best be going. Give my best to my granddaughter and tell her I hope to speak to her soon.”

Stiles shudders after he walks away. “I totally understand why Allison and her dad don’t talk to him anymore. Something about that guy is just off.”

Derek laughs.

“Why does your mom even let him into this thing?”

“She can’t not. He’s a valuable political player even if he’s crazy.”

“Fucking bat-shit crazy, you mean,” Stiles replies.

“Sure,” Derek says with a smile. 

Suddenly, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” pops on the loud speakers and Stiles notices that there's a dance floor. Not many people had been dancing to whatever was on before, but now it seems like more people are getting into it. 

"We need to dance!” Stiles looks at Derek enthusiastically, gesturing with his eyes that they should go dance. 

"No."

"Why not? I know you dance, and this song is a classic."

Derek shrugs. "I was a lot drunker than this and it's different dancing in a club than at my mom's gala."

"I know that. Clearly. But still, dancing," Stiles whines. 

"Stiles, I told you that I’m not a fan of dancing."

"That doesn’t mean you won’t though. For me, please. It'll help me live through the rest of this madness." Stiles gives Derek his best puppy dog eyes and holds his hand out. 

"Fine," Derek sighs.

He takes Stiles' hand and Stiles grins at him. 

\--  
Derek makes a point never to dance at events like this. 

In fact, he doesn't dance much at all. 

The two times at the club were a definite anomaly. Yet somehow when Stiles had asked, Derek hadn't even put up a fight. Apparently, Derek doesn’t dance. Except when it involves Stiles and then it’s about a 100% success rate. 

He had let Stiles drag him out onto the floor and proceeded to watch Stiles dance for a solid thirty seconds before Stiles started to try and force him to move. 

Stiles in the club had been one thing. It'd made Derek incredibly attracted to him. 

Stiles dancing now? Well, if Derek didn't know him he'd probably be repulsed, but instead he's pretty sure it's making him fall deeper in love with him. 

He dances with no inhibitions and it’s crazy and a good deal awkward and so undeniably Stiles. But it's also fun and free and confident in way that Derek frequently struggles to let himself be. And Stiles refuses to not let Derek be right there with him. 

Derek's having fun here in a way he never has before, especially not at one of these things. 

He never lets himself be so open when he's acting strictly as a prince but this is great and he's not doing anything that could harm the family name. Stiles is spinning around and singing along to every word even though he’s off-key. His enthusiasm is infectious. 

The song comes to an end and the group dancing all claps politely before the DJ announces that he's slowing things down. 

Derek looks at Stiles questioningly and Stiles shrugs so Derek moves closer until Stiles loops his arms around his shoulders. He glances over Stiles’ shoulder and spots Laura and her fiancé dancing together off to the side too. Derek doesn't recognize the song, but he can tell it's Nat King Cole singing. Normally, this would be something both he and Stiles would be making fun of with how clichéd it seems. 

But, now, in the moment, it just feels incredibly romantic. 

Derek pulls Stiles close and loses himself to the moment. 

It's just him and Stiles dancing. To him, there's no one else in the room. 

It's easy and relaxing and comforting and romantic and just everything Derek never expected to have while dancing at his mom's gala with the guy he's in a fake relationship with. 

None of that matters though, as he gazes into Stiles' eyes. 

They dance through the next several songs until the DJ puts on something more upbeat again and Stiles pulls away. 

Derek hates that he has to let him. 

"As much as I want to keep dancing, I need something to drink before I die," Stiles jokes. 

"I'll get them," Derek offers, "you can go sit down for a minute."

"You sure?" 

Derek nods. 

Stiles smiles at him gratefully and heads off towards the table designated for his family. 

Derek makes his way to the bar. There are plenty of waiters milling about with food that he knows he could ask to do it, but he doesn't like to abuse his position, not when he's fully capable of doing it himself. 

He waits his turn at the bar and doesn't notice when Lydia sidles up next to him. 

"You two looked like a perfect, wonderfully in love couple," Lydia comments, not looking at Derek. 

Her tone is lighthearted like she's just making casual conversation, but she's always been better at playing the social game than half the people Derek has to deal with normally. 

Nothing she's saying is without purpose. 

"Mhm," Derek agrees noncommittally. 

"I'd say it's also interesting that you were dancing. If I can remember correctly, you've only ever danced at one of these things once before and it was under extreme duress and with the Queen."

Now, Lydia is eyeing him carefully. 

"Well, Stiles can be a persuasive force too."

"I'm aware," Lydia says, "but it also doesn't seem like you put up much of a fight."

Derek shrugs. He's really not sure what Lydia's point is and he's rapidly losing the ability to care. 

"Alright, great talk," Derek says as he begins to turn away. 

Lydia grabs his arm before he can move away and pats it gently so that to any outside looker it would seem like a friendly goodbye gesture. 

She moves closer and murmurs, "I'm not trying to say anything about it, Derek. Just be careful, for both your sakes. This is going to get very complicated for everyone if something goes wrong."

"Okay," Derek agrees. 

Lydia nods and turns away. 

Nothing she's saying is anything Derek hasn't considered before. It could be bad if he does nothing and continues to have a fake relationship with a guy he's in love with and it could be bad if he tries to have a real relationship with Stiles. 

Rock meet hard place. 

Derek's really not sure how long he can last in this in between place either. 

Something has to happen, and he has a feeling that it’s going to happen soon too. 

\--  
Stiles takes the dancing break gratefully and people watches as he waits for Derek to bring back some drinks. 

The crowd is full of famous faces and everyone else who he's sure is even more important than the people he does recognize. 

He's not totally sure but he thinks he saw Beyoncé. 

His gaze continues to wander until he spots Derek at the bar. 

Stiles can't help the instant smile that comes over his face. He knows he looks like a fool, but he can't help it. He just really likes him. 

He watches as Lydia walks over and then as she stops Derek from leaving. 

Stiles is only sure that that's what she's doing because she's pulled that same move on him many times before. It makes him incredibly curious as to what they're talking about that Derek wanted to leave but Lydia stopped him. 

What could she possibly be saying? 

Derek heads for the table and passes Stiles his drink. 

"Thanks," Stiles says. 

It only takes a whole thirty seconds before he cracks under the pressure of not knowing. "What were you and Lydia talking about?"

"Nothing really," Derek replies. 

Stiles tries to not have his hackles rise, but he fails. 

He feels like if it was actually nothing then Derek would've told him what they talked about. He’s spent way too much of his life watching his dad work to not have developed that same sense for bullshit. 

“So if it’s nothing, just tell me,” Stiles pushes. 

Derek stares at him unflinchingly. “She wanted to know how I thought you were handling tonight.”

It’s a lie. 

A good lie, but Stiles is completely sure that it’s a lie. 

It doesn’t make sense. There’s no good reason for Derek to lie to him, not about anything Lydia would be saying to him. Stiles has known her long enough to understand that, but it’s just a sharp reminder of how little he actually knows Derek. 

He may be feeling like it could be forever, but that doesn’t mean Derek is. 

Plus, Derek should realize that he can just ask Lydia and she’ll tell him. 

So why won’t he?

“Okay,” Stiles finally replies. 

Derek looks like he wants to say something more, but he closes his mouth and looks away. 

“Well, you can tell her that I’m having a good time.” Stiles hopes he doesn’t sound bitter. He just really isn’t a fan of being lied too.

“Really?” Derek asks sarcastically. 

Well, shit, clearly he’s still transparent.

There’s no point in fighting right now. 

Not when he’ll just ask Lydia later. And then they can fight. 

Stiles takes a deep breath. “Really. It’s been a lot more fun than I expected.”

“I’m having a good time too,” Derek says, smiling sincerely. 

Stiles can feel himself and his remnant anger melting away at Derek’s smile; it has a tendency to do that to him. 

He leans closer to Derek and whispers conspiratorially, “So fill me in on all the royal gossip, there are way too many people here for there not to be something good.”

Derek laughs. 

“Well,” Derek glances around. “See that old man over there?”

Stiles nods. 

“He totally tried to get my parents to break up when they first got together.”

“Seriously? That’s ballzy,” Stiles snorts. 

“The real question is if it was because he wanted to be with my mom or my dad. All these years and we still can’t figure it out.”

“Shit, that’s great,” Stiles laughs. “What else you got?”

“You should never go near that woman unless you can handle the intensely overwhelming smell of violets and cat piss.”

Stiles leans over clutching his stomach in laughter. “You’re making all this up aren’t you?”

He turns to glance at Derek and finds them much closer than anticipated. He can’t resist glancing down at Derek’s lips for a split second. 

“Never,” Derek says softly before he leans in quickly to peck Stiles on the lips. 

It’s quick and easy, and pretty much perfect. 

Which just makes Stiles more confused about why Derek would lie to him. 

He’s tempted to ask again, but instead he just sighs and looks away. “Anything else of note?”

Derek pauses before responding and when he does, he sounds a bit disappointed and confused. “It’s not really gossip, but that lady over there was my nanny growing up.”

“Oo, does that mean she has stories about child Derek? I so need to hear them.”

Before Stiles can even move towards the woman, Cora’s plopping down on the seat next to him. 

“If it’s baby Derek stories you want, all you had to do is ask,” Cora says with a Cheshire cat grin. 

“No, there’s no need,” Derek protests. 

“I mean I think Stiles has a right to know.” Laura’s voice comes out of nowhere.

Both Stiles and Derek jump when she speaks as they had no idea she was there. 

Stiles is honestly curious how long she’s been standing there and how he totally did not spot her. It’s not his fault that Derek is very distracting. 

“Come on, baby bro, let’s leave them be. I need to talk to you,” Laura says holding a hand out to Derek. 

Derek glances at each of them before threatening Cora, “I will hurt you.”

She rolls her eyes. 

Laura pulls Derek away.

Whatever she wants to talk to him about seems way more serious than the conversation they were just having. 

Stiles doesn’t mind a good mystery; in fact, he relishes them. But he absolutely hates being left out of the loop for no good reason, and that’s exactly what this feels like. 

“So I could tell you stories or we could go dance,” Cora suggests, eating the olives out of her martini. 

As much as he’s dying to hear stories about Derek when he was a kid, he knows that he could really just use a bit of a “dance it out” moment. 

Lydia may have sucked him into Grey’s Anatomy when they were in high school. Sue him. 

“Let’s dance!” He holds a hand out to Cora and leads her to the dance floor.

Stiles loses himself to the music and just goes with it. 

Earlier, he’d still be enjoying himself and having fun, but he also cared about making sure that Derek had fun, that Derek didn’t think he danced like a total lunatic, just most of one. Now, he doesn’t care. 

This is just for him.

He’s worked out a good sweat before the DJ switches to something a little slower. He assumes that means he and Cora will take a break, but instead she grabs his hand and drops it on her waist, taking his other so that they’re slow-dancing, just much less intimate than he and Derek previously. 

“So how are things going?” Cora asks.

“Good?”

He lets go of her waist to spin her once. 

“I mean with Derek. I don’t typically go on vacation with a guy I’m faking dating,” Cora says blatantly. 

Stiles didn’t think he was being that obvious, but apparently, he’s wrong.

He keeps his smile plastered on his face and doesn’t let it falter for a moment. 

“You fake date a lot of guys?” Stiles jokes. 

He gets a heel to his foot for the trouble. 

He figures he deserved that. He shouldn’t be trying to bullshit Cora.

“I don’t know, okay, Cora? We’re friends.” Stiles shrugs self-deprecatingly. “I enjoy spending time with him. This whole thing is just really fucking strange so don’t get all pissy with me when I don’t have an answer for you.”

She doesn’t let him move away. 

“We need to finish out this song before you go storming away,” she says quickly. “I didn’t mean to push. You guys just seem to be getting along a lot better now and I wasn’t sure. Plus, he’s my brother, you know? And I’d like to think we’re friends too.”

Stiles hadn’t even thought about that part of it before, but it’s true. 

He has become friends with the Hales and he is going to miss them when this all ends, and he knows his dad and Melissa liked Derek. 

They get all the drama of a break-up without having actually broken up which is just great. 

“We are,” Stiles assures her. “I think this whole night is just getting to me. It’s weird, you know? Actually, you probably don’t.”

He can’t keep in the slightly bitter laugh that follows. 

“No, it’s always weird for us too. Just because we’ve never lived a life without any of this doesn’t mean we aren’t all acutely aware that this isn’t normal.”

Stiles can’t seem to get his head on straight tonight. 

He’s had way too much happen in the past forty-eight hours to even know which way’s up. 

He has no idea where things stand with Derek. He’s had to play the part of the royal boyfriend at a gala, for fuck’s sake. And everything about it and the Hales has just reaffirmed that he really doesn’t know anything about being royalty, or about what they go through. 

It’s not like he feels the need to apologize to Derek for all his jokes about royalty, but he does want to let him know that he gets it better now. 

He’d like to think this could be more. He wants what Scott has with Allison. He had thought he didn’t, but now that he gets it, feels it, fuck, he wants it. But Derek’s being really suspicious tonight and none of it makes sense. 

The song comes to an end and Cora steps away. 

“No matter what, I hope we can always be friends,” Cora says before wrapping her arms around Stiles and hugging him tightly for a second.

“Me too,” Stiles whispers in her ear. 

He’s pretty sure she gets how overly complicated everything is, but he doesn’t think she’s going to go blabbing off to anyone right away. 

“I’m going to go find Derek,” Stiles tells her once they pull back. 

“I’m going to find some alcohol so I can handle talking to all these old badgers.”

Stiles laughs and heads in the direction that Laura and Derek had originally gone. 

\--  
Laura pulls Derek away from the party and down a side hallway. She checks several doors until she finds the one she’s looking for and yanks him into the kitchen. 

The couple chefs milling about nod their hellos, but then go back to what they were doing and ignore them. 

Derek hadn’t really wanted to leave Stiles alone with Cora, but something about Laura’s tone had said that she was serious in needing to talk to him, and as much as he doesn’t want his childhood stories being told, he has enough respect for Laura to pick her over saving his pride. 

Laura glances around the kitchen to make sure no one else is listening before she speaks. “You’re in love with him.”

In a thousand years, this is never what he imagined her saying. 

He doesn’t have an answer for her either, or at least he lacks any denial. Derek knows he’s gaping like a fish, but he doesn’t know what else to do. 

“Yes,” he finally answers. 

“What happened? You guys hated each other!”

Derek shrugs; he’s not totally sure himself. 

Laura stares at him for a moment and shakes her head. “That doesn’t actually matter. What matters is what you’re going to do about it.”

“What can I do?” Derek asks. He’s been wondering that the whole day, going back and forth between doing something and not, but never coming to an answer. 

“I don’t know, but I don’t think Stiles would reject you.”

“No, not if it means being with me will pay off his dad’s bills. That’s what this is, Laura. It’s all just an arrangement. Feelings don’t change that.”

“They could?”

Derek scoffs.

“If you both want it enough, which I think you do, then I don’t see how we can’t all come up with a solution.”

She steps closer to him and cradles his cheek until he looks up at her. 

“All I know is that I haven’t seen you act around anyone the way you do around him in a long time. Since Paige. Paige was great for you and we all loved her, but she died and then of course you dated the complete antithesis with Kate, but that’s not the point. My point is that now with Stiles it’s clear that Paige wasn’t even the best match for you. Stiles balances you out. He makes you happier, lighter, like the world isn’t completely weighing down on your shoulders for once, but he also fights you and doesn’t let you get away with anything either. That’s something that’s worth fighting for. And from what I’ve seen of Stiles, he wouldn’t be one to play you, he’s going to be honest with you so I don’t think you have to worry about him not rejecting you just so he can keep the deal.”

“When you’d get so smart?” Derek nudges her teasingly.

“Always been, little bro. I mean, I am engaged so clearly I know a thing or two about endgame.”

Laura steps away from him for a moment while she convinces the chefs to give her some ice cream. When she comes back, she has two spoons and offers one to Derek. 

He knows she did that so that he could have time to process without feeling any pressure to respond. 

Derek has the best sisters in the world. 

“You’re right,” Derek says. 

Because she totally is and he knows it. 

That was just a dumb excuse so that he could avoid the fact that he’s just fucking terrified. He doesn’t want to lose what he has with Stiles. But then again, he doesn’t really have it right now either. 

“I still don’t know what to do,” Derek mutters after a moment. 

They both laugh softly.

“Just tell him how you feel and go from there.”

He thinks Stiles will tell him he’s falling in love with him too; he’s pretty sure that’s where they’re both heading. 

It’s strange, but maybe someday it’ll make a great story for the history books. Okay, probably not the history books, but their grandkids, sure. 

He wants this. 

He wants Stiles. 

In an incredibly real and definitely not fake way. 

“Okay,” Derek decides, voice firm with resolution. “I’m going to talk to him.”

“Good,” Laura says beaming. 

She pulls him into a hug and then shoves him away. 

“Go get your man,” she teases.

Derek hopes that’s what Stiles is, or at least wants to be. 

He thinks it is. 

He’s willing to risk his own heart to find out. 

\--  
It takes Stiles a while to work his way through the crowd. 

He keeps getting stopped by random people that gush over how cute he and Derek are. 

Stiles keeps going in waves of agreeing with them and wishing they would just shut up. He’s trying to convince himself that Derek feels something for him, but he’s never had the best self-esteem and it’s a bit of a losing battle. 

However, all in all, it isn’t bad, the party that is. 

He’s not a huge fan of all of it and the fakeness that comes with it, but if this is what it means to be with Derek, he could put up with it, especially since he’s sure that if they were together, he could definitely convince Derek to sneak off for some closet sex somewhere. 

The thought makes him smile to himself as he walks down a hallway. 

He assumes that Derek and Laura went for the kitchen, and it pleases him greatly that he knows that about them. 

Stiles isn’t even paying attention to where he’s going until he’s stopped by a hand on his arm.

“Stiles?” 

He jumps and has to reign in the urge to punch the person in the face. He wishes he didn’t though when he sees that it’s Kate, Derek’s ex. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” she says. 

“What do you want?” He asks, not bothering to hide his animosity. 

Her fake smile drops immediately and she circles around him. 

Stiles is getting the strong image of a cat toying with the mouse before it eats it. 

“Looking for your boytoy I take it? A secret rendezvous in a private room? I promise I won’t tell.”

Stiles glares at her and focuses on keeping his anger in check and his wits about him so that he can leave the conversation as soon as possible.

He’s not stupid enough to try to force her away though, he gets the feeling that she would find a way to accuse him of assault. 

The last thing anyone needs is for him to get a record on top of everything else too. 

“Just tell me one thing, have you figured out how to do that thing with your tongue yet that makes Derek see stars? I’ve perfected the move and I don’t know if anyone else ever did quite get it right.” 

Stiles doesn’t say anything. 

“Ah, didn’t think so. You don’t quite seem like one who knows how to please someone, but if that’s the case I can’t really be sure why he keeps you around.”

Stiles takes a deep breath, but he knows he needs to leave now before something bad happens.

“Screw you,” he spits as he pulls out of her grasp and moves away.

“Alright, it was great talking to you too. Make sure to give your fake boyfriend my regards.”

He freezes. She can’t possibly have said what he thinks she did. 

Stiles knows he should keep moving; it seems more suspicious if he doesn’t ignore her, but he just can’t. 

He spins on his heel. 

“What are you talking about?” Stiles grits out, trying to ignore how it feels like someone’s got an iron grasp on his heart and they’re just waiting for the right moment to rip it clean out of his chest. 

“What? You didn’t honestly think Derek wasn’t talking about it? About how much he hated you and how he’s only okay with it because you’re easy, reliable sex?” Kate taunts. 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Stiles says with false bravado. 

“Don’t I?”

“Seriously, Kate, I don’t know what you’re playing at, but it’s just ridiculous,” Stiles lies. 

“Honestly, Stiles, I’m just trying to give you a heads up. I’m the one who’s been hurt too, Derek told me we were going to get back together and next thing I know you’ve shown up to play fake relationship with him. I guess we both should’ve known that pushing the family’s policy ideas comes before anything else.”

“That can’t possibly be true,” but Stiles can’t resisting asking, “What policy ideas?” 

“Honestly, why else would I be so pissed off about everything? Derek screwed me just like he’s screwing you. Well, actually not like he’s screwing you.” Kate laughs. 

“Sweetie, clearly if the prince is gay and in an openly gay relationship then the country can’t protest gay marriage nearly as much since it’d be directly discriminating towards him, thus why he’s with you and not me.” Kate says with an overly dramatic flourish to herself. 

“And you,” she starts, gesturing towards Stiles, “well, the Queen’s looking to make an example of daddy dearest, what with all the protests against law enforcement lately. She can swoop in and show that she’s not going to take insufficiency lightly, especially not when it’s clear that that person should’ve retired after their tragic accident on the job.”

Stiles feels his blood run cold. 

“I’m sure she’ll try to play it off as only doing it to help him, but there’s pretty much no way that he leaves unscathed and his entire career will be looked at negatively. Hell, there are probably even some criminals who will try to make the case that he put them away wrongly since his accident. There’s even a chance they’ll win,” Kate says, her tone easy and light, but with one glance at her eyes, Stiles can tell she knows that she’s landing every punch. 

“If you do anything to hurt my dad,” Stiles starts, stepping towards Kate in fury. 

She holds her hands up and laughs. “I’m not the one who’s going to be doing anything, but that is why the queen has been meeting with my dad so much. She’s having him head it up as a sort of bridge between the two political parties.” 

Stiles doesn’t know what to say.

Because it all makes sense. 

He should’ve known that this was never going to be a world he could deal with. 

“Call it off. Tell your dad not to do it,” Stiles tries, only a step from begging. 

“Nah,” Kate denies viciously. “I don’t really aspire to help glorified hookers.” 

Kate’s hitting every soft spot that Stiles didn’t even know he had. 

“That’s not what this is.”

Stiles is trying to convince himself as much as Kate at this point. 

“So you’re not getting paid and Derek’s not getting sex? What did you think this was?” Kate spits. 

He thought it was something real. 

He’d had his doubts, but he hoped, fuck had he hoped. 

But now he knows. 

It isn’t anything. 

Kate laughs harshly. “Oh, isn’t that sweet, you actually love him. I’m sorry, sweetie, but you got played. He’s just been using you.”

She pats his cheek and struts away leaving Stiles alone and completely demolished. 

\--  
Derek leaves Laura in the kitchen with the tub of ice cream she was able to dig up and starts his search for Stiles. 

He’s hoping he can find him before he loses his resolve. 

It feels right, though, telling Stiles. It might be weird at first, but he thinks that Stiles wants this or at least could want to give it a shot. They’ll have a lot to work out, but with everyone working together, he’s sure they can figure out a solution to everything. A way to help Stiles out financially, but also to not leave him where he feels like he needs to keep this up in order to help his dad. 

It’s only two short turns before he comes across Stiles standing alone in a hallway, staring out a window. 

“Hey, what are you doing here? Never mind, I want to say something to you,” Derek takes a deep breath. This is not how he intended to do this, but fuck it, he’s going for it. “I, well, I lo-“

Stiles cuts him off with a shake of the head. 

Derek finally takes in how he looks, shaking, pale, and curled in on himself. It’s abundantly clear that something is wrong. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I think you should just leave me the fuck alone,” Stiles says, voice flat and emotionless. 

Derek’s totally lost and has no idea what the fuck is going on. He’d expected Stiles to be confused and maybe worried in a worst case scenario, and happy in a best case one, when he confessed, but this doesn’t make any sense.

But then again, Derek didn’t actually even get out his confession so he’s not even sure that that’s what this is about. 

“Stiles, wait! Talk to me.” Derek follows Stiles as he stalks down a different hallway, clearly looking for some way out. 

“Fuck off,” Stiles spits. 

Derek catches up to him and grabs his arm. “Not until you tell me why.”

“Your friend, girlfriend, fuck if I know what she is, told me everything I need to know, now I just want to go home and get away from all of this fucked up bullshit,” Stiles yells, voice gaining strength with every word.

Derek has absolutely no clue what Stiles is talking about, but he needs to fix it. He’ll do anything. 

“Okay, I’ll take you home,” Derek offers. 

“No, I don’t want to be with you. I don’t want to be near you at all.”

Stiles still won’t look at Derek so he can’t even get a semblance of a read on what’s going on in his head. 

Stiles tries to move away again, but Derek stops him by moving to block Stiles’ escape. 

“Will you please look at me?” Derek begs.

Stiles shakes his head, but his shoulders slump in sadness. “No.” His voice has lost all the anger from before and now it just seems broken.

Derek steps closer to Stiles. “Please, Stiles, just talk to me. I’ll do whatever I can to help, I promise. I just need you to talk to me.”

“That was the problem in the first place.” Stiles finally turns to look at Derek with tears shining in his eyes. “I can’t believe you’d betray me like this.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Derek protests.

“I’m sure you don’t,” Stiles says sarcastically. 

“Stiles, please.” Derek tries to grab Stiles’s arm so that he can ground him enough to get an answer about what he’s talking about, but Stiles rips it away. 

“Don’t you dare fucking touch me. I don’t want anything to do with your or this entire fucked up situation ever again.” 

Stiles turns and walks away, and Derek lets him go this time. 

He has no idea what just happened, but from the way Stiles was acting, he’s pretty sure it’s the end. 

Of course, the moment he decides to tell Stiles about his feelings, it’s over, and Derek’s heart is left in shattered pieces on the floor.


	9. you're the sky

_Our hearts are still racing from the adorableness that was #Sterek last night. We’ve even managed to snag a couple pictures of them dancing from the Gala that we are posting at this very moment. Sadly, the happy couple didn’t stay for the entire night, but we’re assuming they were off making the best use of the Prince’s knowledge of all the secret passages and hideaways of the royal event center. We know we would’ve been if it were us. Isn’t love just beautiful? Here’s to hoping that we can all find the Stiles to our Derek. I think we all deserve a little of that true love fairytale magic. (Also, a source may have some pictures from their getaway yesterday. We’re keeping our fingers crossed as much as you are.)_

Derek didn't even really try to sleep last night. 

He spent the entire time just trying to figure out what happened because the more he thinks about it, the more it doesn't make any sense. Stiles is still clearly attracted to him and Derek's pretty sure that he likes him at least as a friend if not more. 

It's the fact that they seem to look at each other way more than just friends would that makes Derek think that it's more than that. And the way they joke. And the fact that Stiles makes Derek feel sure of himself. And how he doesn’t care about what Derek’s title is, just who he is.

Derek hopes he does some of those things for Stiles too. He wants to be that support for him. 

So for Stiles to decide that he pretty much never wants to see or hear from Derek again just doesn't make sense. 

He had even asked Cora about it. 

Asked is probably not the right word, he yelled at her angrily once she got home from the party and she had flipped him off and told him that everything had been fine when Stiles had left her. She said that she even thought that Derek would've had a good shot. 

So he's at a loss for what happened between then and when Derek found him. 

After maybe a grand total of twenty minutes of sleep, Derek rolls out of bed and looks at the news on his iPad. It's still open to the gossip rag he'd checked last night in desperation for some hint of what happened. Except now it's blazing with a headline about how happy he and Stiles are and he just can't handle it. 

Derek throws it against the wall and ignores the way it shatters. 

He needs answers and the only way to get them is to talk to Stiles. 

So that's what he's going to do. 

He climbs out of bed and pulls on some sweats. He doesn't even bothering glancing in the mirror. 

Derek considers going straight to Stiles', but he figures some food wouldn't hurt considering his lack of sleep so he stops in the breakfast room. 

Laura and Lydia are already in there discussing something that Derek pretty much ignores. He catches snippets about solutions and Lydia thinking that it was mostly hopeless but that if anyone could fix it she could. 

Derek just grabs his bagel, slathers some cream cheese on it and heads for the door. 

"Where are you going?" Laura asks. 

"I need to talk to Stiles."

Laura and Lydia glance at each other for a long moment before turning back to him. 

"I'm not sure that- well, maybe- I'm really sorry, Der," Laura stutters. 

"What are you even trying to say?" Derek asks, annoyance coloring his voice. 

"Stiles had decided to dissolve the contract and has asked for you not to contact him," Lydia says, voice firm and professional. 

Laura reaches for Derek, to grab his hand, to offer any sort of comfort, but he jerks away.

"Did he say why? I get that he's pissed, but I honestly don't understand why," Derek stands up and starts to pace. It’s almost as if Stiles’ nervous habits have rubbed off on him. 

Nothing makes any sense. If he could just talk to Stiles then he could tell him everything about how he feels and maybe then Stiles would feel differently. 

Lydia shrugs. "It's well within his rights."

"Lydia, please," Derek begs. 

She lets out a heavy sigh. "I honestly don't know. All I know is that Stiles was adamant that it all be over.” She takes a deep breath. “I’m going to figure it out though. It doesn’t make sense, not when he so clearly felt the same.”

Derek doesn’t know what to say. 

It gives him a little bit of hope that Lydia thinks Stiles had feelings for him too, but that doesn’t solve anything. 

His only solution is still to talk to Stiles. 

Derek walks out of the room and figures he’ll call first, that way he’s not totally disrespecting Stiles’ wishes. 

He tries and tries again, but no one answers. Which, as Derek knows how much Stiles uses his phone, means Stiles is either dead or really, really ignoring him. 

But Derek’s not giving up, not yet. 

It’s another five tries before the phone finally connects.

No one says anything on the other end of the line, and Derek glances at the phone to check to see that Stiles really did answer. 

“Stiles? I’m really sorry, I don’t know what happened, but I swear it’s not what you think. If you’d just give me-“ Derek rushes to get out before the phone disconnects. 

“Derek?” A voice interrupts.

It’s not Stiles. 

“It’s Scott,” the voice supplies.

Derek slumps down against the wall of the hallway. 

“Is Stiles there?” Derek asks.

Scott’s quiet for a second, which Derek takes as a yes.

“Can I talk to him?”

Derek’s not above begging Scott either; he’s just about to try when Scott finally speaks. 

“Derek, you should stop calling. Stiles doesn’t want to talk to you and he said he’ll take out a restraining order if he has to.”

Scott sounds sympathetic, but that doesn’t help the crushing weight that is surrounding Derek. 

“Okay,” Derek finally agrees. He doesn’t have a choice. “Just- is he okay? Or can you make sure he is?”

“Always,” Scott replies. 

Derek lets the phone fall away from his ear as Scott hangs up. 

He has no moves left to make; the game’s over and he’s lost. 

\--  
Stiles resolutely attempts not to try to listen to Scott’s half of the conversation with Derek. 

He has his cocoon of blankets on the sofa and he’s refusing to move for anything. 

He really isn’t sure the last time he felt this absolutely, hopelessly miserable. 

It hadn’t helped when Derek had kept calling him either. A part of him had wanted to answer it, to consider hearing Derek out, but a larger part of him knew that wouldn’t be a good idea. He’d get sucked back in and probably let Derek talk him into something stupid that would even further destroy his image of himself which is currently existing at an all time low.

He’s a hooker who’s going to be the reason why his dad is destroyed. Yeah, his life is great. 

So instead he had stared at his phone every time it had rung, never turning the volume down or even pushing to send it to voicemail. 

Eventually, Scott had gotten so frustrated that he had said Stiles either had to talk to him or turn his phone off, so the next time the phone rang, Stiles gathered his strength, told Scott to tell Derek off and be done with it. 

Scott’s not yelling so clearly he doesn’t think Derek’s a complete and total dick; it makes Stiles wish he could know what Derek is saying even more. 

Once Scott hangs up, Stiles burrows deeper in his blankets and pretends to have not been listening. 

“So I know you told me Derek was an ass, never to be spoken of again,” Scott says as he sits on the other end of the couch. “But I really don’t get it, maybe you got something wrong. I mean he was being totally sincere on the phone, wanted to make sure you were okay and everything. Maybe you should give him a chance to explain.”

Instantly, Stiles lets a good portion of his anguish get washed over with anger. 

This is Derek tricking Scott into thinking he’s not a terrible person when all he clearly wants to do is assuage some of the guilt he feels over completely fucking over Stiles and his dad. 

Stiles yanks the blankets back and glares at Scott. “Scott, he and his entire family are going to make an example out of my dad and the need for better sanctions on the police by dragging him through the mud and forcing him out of his position.”

“What?” Scott asks totally appalled. 

“All because of something I told Derek so it’s my fault I guess, but if Derek cares how I am, it’s only because he feels guilty for fucking me over,” Stiles spits, but he’s quickly losing his will to be angry. He’s too hurt still. 

“That’s insane! He can’t do that,” Scott protests.

“Well, he can actually.”

“You told him that in confidence. That fucker. This is not your fault. I’m going to fucking kill him,” Scott rants, seriously about to get off the couch and hunt Derek down.

“Hold up, buddy,” Stiles says softly with a small smile. Even when his life is total shit, it’s always nice to know Scott’s on his side, even if his plans aren’t the best. “It’s probably not a good idea to threaten the prince with murder since they might actually take you seriously, and I’d prefer if you weren’t in jail.”

“I am serious,” Scott says firmly. 

“Jail, Scott. Possibly even the death penalty.”

Scott sits back down. “Yeah, okay, but I would.”

“I know, and I appreciate it, man.” 

Stiles holds his fist out for Scott to bump before he covers himself in his blankets again. 

Scott watches him carefully and Stiles knows he can tell something else is going on; they’ve been friends and brothers now for way too long for them not to be able to read each other perfectly. 

“You fell for him.” 

It’s not a question; they both know it’s true.

“It’s my own fault for thinking it was more, for even hoping it could be. He never gave me any inclination of feelings. I was the one always making the first move. He’s total trash if he does anything to my dad, but it’s not his fault that I love him,” Stiles says quietly with a sad shrug. 

He’s pretty sure that this is what it feels like to be stripped raw; he doesn’t really have anything left. 

“I’m sorry, man.”

Stiles nods, but he’s already lost in thoughts of Derek. Derek didn’t make Stiles fall in love with him, but he could’ve been more obvious about his wicked ways and it would’ve saved him a lot of heartache, but instead, he was the opposite. 

He was everything Stiles didn’t know he wanted. 

But once Derek had entered his life, it became totally clear that that’s what Stiles needs from a relationship. 

Well, the banter and teasing and the support. Not the destroying of his only parent. 

“But seriously, fuck him. Fuck him for being amazing at sex and making it so hard to not want that. And fuck him for realizing that he could have that without actually caring about me and taking advantage of that. But no matter what that bitch says, I still know it was probably the best sex of his life because it was definitely the best sex of mine,” Stiles rambles. 

Scott’s clearly lost, but really not sure if he should even bother interrupting to figure it out. 

“So what if it essentially made me into a prostitute? But actually, fuck that. And fuck Derek’s perfect face and his eyes, like really fuck his eyes. And the fact that I can’t even remember the last time I made eye contact with him because I refused to do it when we were fighting because I would’ve cracked. I really would’ve, Scott.” 

Stiles glances at Scott to emphasize his point, but Scott seems mostly confused and a little bit scared at Stiles’ outburst. Stiles doesn’t care anymore, he just needs to say all this, to get everything out so maybe he can move past it. 

“I always felt so open when I looked at him and I couldn’t do it, but now I don’t remember any time before that, and it just really completely sucks that that’s how I get to remember it. It was this crazy level of intimacy I’ve never had before and now it’s gone. It’s all gone.”

Stiles’ voice drops to a whisper by the end of his rant and Scott looks at him as if anticipating something more, but Stiles forces himself not to feel anything. 

He’s not shedding another tear.

And if that’s all he accomplishes today, then that’s more than enough for Stiles. The rest can come later, hopefully. 

\--  
Derek had sat for an hour before something had clicked in his head, forcing him up. 

He’d normally give up, but it was Stiles’ voice that popped up from when he had talked to him about solving mysteries and how if you have a feeling you have to follow up on it, and Derek’s gut is telling him there’s something more.

But that doesn’t mean he’s going to charge over to Stiles’. He’s made it perfectly clear that Derek isn’t welcome, but that’s not going to stop Derek from trying to figure it out, not when he knows Stiles wouldn’t quit any good case. 

He’s going to find a lead and follow it until he figures it out.

The issue is that he really has nothing to start off on. 

Which means that he’s now been pacing in one of the common rooms for several hours as Boyd, Erica, and Isaac try to help him (or keep him sane as Erica had so lovingly put it). 

“It just doesn’t make any fucking sense,” Derek yells after he finishes another circuit around the room. He picks up a pillow and chucks it across the room, but it simply hits the wall with a dull thud. 

“Everything was fine, I finally decide to tell him how I feel, and then once I find him, everything’s no longer fine,” Derek rants, “I just want to know why so that I can fix it and then tell him that I’m in love with him.”

“So you’re in love with him now?” Erica asks, “I thought it was just ‘feelings.’” She adds the finger quotes mockingly. 

“I am. I don’t know why it took my so long to admit that. I want to be with Stiles, and right now, I just really want to tell him that. I need him to at least know that.”

Derek’s so frustrated with himself for not making up his mind sooner and then maybe he could’ve avoided all of this. 

He knows that Stiles may not feel the same, but he’s willing to try. He has to try. 

“After your night at the lake, he probably has an idea,” Boyd offers with a shrug. 

The issue is that Derek’s not sure that that’s true. “It was just sex. I never actually said anything about wanting more. Neither did he though.”

“Who kissed who first?” Isaac asks.

“Stiles made the first move,” Derek replies. 

“Well, there’s your answer,” Erica sasses as she files her nails. “He definitely feels at least something even if it’s just your dick in his ass or maybe it’s the other way around.”

“Erica,” Derek threatens.

“What?” She asks with fake innocence. “Talking about sex is a natural thing. In fact, you should do it more often. With all the men you’ve been linked to recently, you should probably get tested, it’d be so terrible if you gave Stiles an STD, then he really wouldn’t talk to you ever again.”

Derek knows she’s just teasing, especially considering the only man he’s been linked to besides Stiles is her boyfriend, but something about that still irks him deeply. 

“How about you don’t talk about my sex life ever again,” Derek says roughly. “Plus, I would never sleep around like that and especially not on Stiles.” 

Lydia marches in the room and replies, “Well, you did sleep with Stiles on the first night.” 

Erica gestures like Lydia’s clearly right. 

Derek sighs and angrily rakes his hands through his hair. “That wasn’t the norm. That was just… Stiles.”

“What are you playing at Derek? Because I swear if you’re trying to screw my friend over, I will ruin you and I don’t care that your guards are hearing my threat because no one will be able to connect it to me,” Lydia says, while getting in Derek’s face.

She may be wearing five-inch heels and still be several inches shorter than him, but Derek’s never been more intimidated in his life. 

“I’m in love with him,” Derek says simply. 

Lydia nods and backs away so she can set her purse down on a table and pull out her tablet. “Good, because Scott told me that Stiles is convinced you screwed him over, and not in the good way, but I think I know what happened.”

“Please, tell me,” Derek pleads. 

There’s still a chance he can fix this, and he needs that more than anything. 

Lydia pulls something up on her tablet and passes it Derek.

Derek freezes at the sight.

It’s pictures of him and Stiles from the lake. 

Them by the fire, them while they were swimming, everything. 

“There were pictures from when you both went skinny dipping, but I already called the lawyer and had them force the site to take them down. It doesn’t mean they’re gone from the internet, but it’ll be a lot harder to find them now,” Lydia explains.

Derek’s heart sinks. “How? We made sure no one followed us.”

He looks to Boyd and Erica for confirmation and they nod.

“It couldn’t have been the paparazzi,” Erica says.

“So it has to have been someone who knew where you’d go,” Boyd comments softly. 

The thought that someone Derek trusts enough to show the lake house would betray him like that is another blow. 

Lydia says, “Well, I should have an answer for that too, in just-“ 

“Hi?” A guy asks as he enters the room. 

Derek’s pretty sure he recognizes him, but he can’t place from where.

At least not until Isaac squeaks. 

“Danny?” Isaac asks. 

Derek realizes that this is the guy who Isaac went home with the night he met Stiles, who must be Stiles’ friend too. It really amazes him how small the world is sometimes. 

“Uh, hi,” Danny repeats as he runs a hand across the back of his neck. 

Lydia rolls her eyes at the exchange. Danny catches her though and it immediately forces him to stand a little taller and clearly recognize that he’s there for a reason. 

“It’s cool, we don’t have to do that whole thing where you feel bad for not calling,” Danny shrugs it off. 

Derek and Erica exchange confused glances. It just doesn’t make sense that Isaac wouldn’t have called the guy because he was super into him. 

“I wanted to!” Isaac protests, moving towards Danny. “I spilled coffee on your number like right after you left and I couldn’t figure out the number afterwards, and I didn’t know you knew Lydia, otherwise I would’ve just asked her.”

“Oh,” Danny starts to blush. “Well, once we solve these idiots’ mess, I can give it to you again and maybe we can get dinner too.”

“I’d like that,” Isaac says, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

“Now that that’s done,” Lydia jumps in cutting them off, “What did you find?”

Danny opens up a laptop. “I was able to trace the source of the photos via some, uh, not illegal hacking?”

“I don’t care,” Derek says firmly. 

“Okay, I was able to find that the photos came from a ‘Kate Argent’?” Danny hesitates as he reads the name. 

“Are you sure?” Lydia asks.

“Positive.”

It makes sense, Derek realizes with a sinking heart. 

He had taken Kate to the lake once. 

He’d been young and stupid and they’d been drunk, but they’d gone. 

Derek’s not sure what to feel. He knew Kate was crazy, but this is a whole new level of attempting to screw his life up. 

“That fucking bitch,” Erica snaps, moving up from the couch. 

Boyd stands too, though Derek’s pretty sure that’s just to restrain Erica in case she actually goes to find Kate, but there’s about an equal chance that it’s so that he can go along and make sure that they dispose of the body properly. 

Derek’s pretty sure he could kill her himself and not feel a single ounce of remorse. 

“She had cameras set up all over the grounds. She couldn’t get anything inside, which I imagine is a good thing,” Danny says with a pointed glance at Derek, “But she also has audio of everything that was said outside too since the cameras were recording non-stop.”

Derek’s grateful that they don’t have to worry about a sex tape neither agreed to make being released, but then he starts to think about all the time they spent outside. 

And all the things they both said and admitted too. 

Derek blanches as he thinks over everything that was said. 

Stiles had said that Derek’s “girlfriend” had told him everything he needed to know and Derek hadn’t gotten it at the time, but now, it all makes sense. 

“Kate had to have talked to him last night. I don’t know what she said or what she tried to claim, but I have some ideas, and it can’t have been good,” Derek says to the group. 

He doesn’t bother explaining anything else though because now that he has a pretty good idea of what happened, he can talk to Stiles. 

He can make things right. 

\--  
Stiles insisted Scott still go on his date with Allison, but that means he’s been alone with nothing but his thoughts for several hours. 

He’d spent at least one of those just trying to decide what take-out he’d wanted to get and now he is just staring at the blank screen of his TV while he waits for it to arrive. 

Honestly, he’s just counting it as a win that he’s upright right now instead of lying down. 

This break-up that isn’t actually a break-up considering they were never actually together is hitting him a lot harder than he ever would have expected. 

Well, it makes sense at least; he is in love with the asshole. 

But no, Derek had to be a stupid jerk and break his heart. 

Someone pounds on the door and Stiles is super relieved that his food is finally here. Eating will give him something to do outside of just sitting there and feeling like shit. 

“How much do I owe you?” Stiles asks digging through his wallet when he opens the door.

When he looks up, it isn’t the delivery guy. 

Derek’s standing sheepishly in front of him. 

“No,” Stiles says adamantly and moves to shut the door. 

“Please, just please, Stiles, hear me out. Just let me explain,” Derek begs. 

There’s something about his voice and how he looks that gives Stiles a second of pause. He almost seems as stripped raw as Stiles feels right now which doesn’t make any sense. 

It also doesn’t make sense why Derek would even want to explain anything to him, not unless he actually cared about Stiles in the most miniscule way. Stiles curses his hopeful heart, but he doesn’t slam the door. However, that doesn’t mean he’s going to make it a cakewalk for Derek. 

“I don’t have to let you do anything,” Stiles declares, ignoring how he may or may not sound a bit like a petulant child. 

He’s also pointedly staring over Derek’s shoulder so that he doesn’t have to make eye contact with him. He’s pretty sure he can’t handle letting himself be that vulnerable with Derek again without completely falling apart. 

“Okay, then can I come in? I’ll talk and you don’t even have to listen. I mean I’d prefer if you did, but yeah?” Derek pleads. 

Stiles thinks he sounds sincere, like really sincere actually, but that doesn’t mean anything, not with everything that he’s done. 

But it’s in his very nature to want answers. Even if that’s just an answer as to why.

He leaves the door open as he walks back to the couch.

“Um?” Derek asks as he hovers near the door, unsure as to whether he should enter or not. 

Stiles doesn’t say anything; Derek said he wanted a chance to talk and so that’s what Stiles is giving him. 

Derek closes the door and sits down on the coffee table in front of Stiles so that they’re at the same level. 

Stiles focuses all of his energy on not letting his heart build up any hope. 

\--  
Derek’s heart is pounding so loud he swears Stiles can hear it. 

But he wouldn’t be able to tell.

Stiles has an emotionless expression and isn’t betraying anything; he also still hasn’t looked at Derek more than the first initial glance when he opened the door. 

He did let Derek in though, so he thinks he has a chance. 

“I’ve spent every moment since we last talked trying to figure out what had happened because I honestly had no idea, but I think I’ve finally figured out what happened, and I don’t know what Kate told you, but I promise that it’s not what you think.”

Stiles’ head snaps up and his anger is back in full force. “How else would she know if she didn’t hear it from you?”

“Hear what?” Derek asks, exasperated. He still has no idea what Stiles is talking about. 

Stiles scoffs and rolls his eyes. 

“I don’t know what you think I told her, but it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that she had cameras on the lake house. That’s how she knew things, and that’s how she must have known about whatever she told you about.” 

Derek takes out his phone and shows him the pictures that have leaked online. 

He watches as Stiles’ face goes through a similar slew of reactions to those Derek had when he had first seen the pictures: surprise, anger, fear, and despair. 

“How do you know it was her?” Stiles murmurs softly, still thumbing through all of the pictures.

“Lydia had Danny figure it out.”

Derek can tell that Stiles believes this much at least; he knows that Stiles knows that he’d check with Lydia and thus lying wouldn’t do any good. 

He hopes this is enough to change Stiles’ mind. 

Derek even thinks he can see Stiles’ walls start to crumble away a bit. 

“So your mom isn’t going to make an example out of my dad?” Stiles asks softly. 

It takes Derek a moment to even understand what Stiles is asking, but then he’s completely appalled. He shouldn’t be so surprised that Kate would pinpoint what would hurt Stiles the most and use it to destroy them both completely. 

Or at least try to.

Derek’s fighting his damnedest to make sure she doesn’t win. 

“Of course not! And if for some crazy reason she decided to, I wouldn’t let her. I would do anything to stop her. She doesn’t even know about anything you’ve said. I’ll make sure that Gerard doesn’t try anything either,” Derek assures. 

He leans forward so that he’s closer to Stiles as he tries to get him to believe what Derek is saying. 

Stiles nods, looking a little lost and a good deal confused. 

Derek gently grabs one of Stiles’ hands and lets out a tiny sigh of relief when he doesn’t jerk away. “I promise whatever Kate claimed, isn’t true,” Derek insists. 

Stiles is silent for a moment, but then whatever he thinks of makes him slump further into himself.

Derek almost wishes for the emotionless expression from before over this one of total defeat. 

It’s breaking his heart. 

\--  
Stiles is pretty sure he believes Derek. 

He’s going to check with Lydia, of course, but what he’s saying makes sense. 

But it doesn’t really clear anything up for Stiles either. 

Sure, Derek doesn’t want Stiles to think poorly of him because they’re friends, but it doesn’t mean that he feels anything more than that for Stiles. 

Stiles is just so done with all of it. 

Sure, he agreed to this all in the beginning, but he really had no idea what he was getting into and all of it has just left him exhausted and without a sliver of fight left in him. 

There’s pretty much no point in not just laying everything on the table at this rate; none of it’s going to make a difference anyway so at least he’ll get the satisfaction of knowing he said what he needed to. 

He finally looks up and meets Derek’s incredibly hopeful gaze. “I want to believe you, and I think I do, but that doesn’t change the fact that a lot of what Kate said is still true.”

“No, I swear-“ Derek tries to interrupt to explain again, but Stiles holds up a hand to stop him. 

“She pointed out the facts about our arrangement and how that’s all it was,” Stiles says with a self-deprecating shrug. 

Derek sits back a little as he tries to puzzle out what Stiles is getting at. 

Stiles watches him and can’t help but feel completely broken. He’s bared open and he’s got nothing left to give except his honesty. 

“It’s fine, Derek. No hard feelings, I swear. I just need to be done with everything,” Stiles says, trying to keep his tone light, but then under his breath he can’t help but add, “And I really can’t do it now that I realize that it makes me a glorified prostitute.” 

Someday he’s going to be able to laugh about how he was way too emotional for sex work, but that is not this day. 

It helps, though, to not treat it so seriously; it makes him think that maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds.

\--  
Derek’s emotions are a whirlwind. 

He’s glad Stiles believes him, but then undeniably sad when he says he still wants things to be over, and then totally confused and horrified when he catches Stiles’ comment about being a prostitute. 

He can’t think that, can he?

More importantly, Derek can’t be the reason that he thinks that because it’s not true.

“Stiles, that’s not true. You aren’t a prostitute. Sure, this was an arrangement, but it was never in exchange for sex. I hope you don’t think you had to…” Derek trails off, the thought appalling him. 

“No, I didn’t, but in the end, I got money and you got sex and I can’t blame you for taking that. You don’t care about me and I was incredibly easy for you, why would you ever turn down non-committed sex like that?” Stiles slumps down into a chair. “Of course then I had to go and fall for you, but that’s on me. You probably already knew that from how much I threw myself at you.”

Derek can’t handle how dejected Stiles sounds especially given what he’s saying. 

But he’s pretty sure he just said that he has feelings for Derek and Derek can’t help but get flooded with hope. 

“Stiles,” Derek says gently, kneeling in front of Stiles, trying to get him to look at him.

Stiles smiles sadly and shakes his head.

“Stiles,” Derek tries again and cups Stiles’ face until Stiles meets his gaze. “I need you to listen to me for a minute. Listen and honestly hear what I’m saying to you because I’m not letting you think any of this about yourself for one minute longer.”

\--  
Well, Stiles thought he couldn’t feel any shittier, but he was wrong. 

It’s quickly turning into a total lack of an ability to care though. 

He just confessed his unrequited love for Derek, he’s so done. 

He’s not even really paying attention until Derek forces Stiles to look at him and to listen to his speech. 

“I’m not letting you think this about yourself,” Derek says, “Not when you have it so totally and completely wrong.”

Derek rubs his thumb soothingly against Stiles’ cheek, and it’s impossible for Stiles not to relax into the touch. 

“You’re absolutely unbelievable and crazy,” Derek continues.

Stiles bristles because that certainly doesn’t sound like a good thing, at least not where Derek’s life is concerned. 

“And somehow, that’s everything I’ve ever needed,” Derek says, cutting off Stiles’ spiral of self-doubt. “I’ll admit, I pretty much hated you for our first several dates, but it quickly became impossible for me not to appreciate the way you fought me on things and how you never cared that I was royalty even when everyone else did and even when you had more reason to than anyone else ever before since it began impacting your life so much.”

Stiles is pretty sure he’s going to wake up any moment. None of this even feels real anymore. 

“Then, once I actually started to get to know you and spend time with you, well, it wasn’t long before I could tell I was falling head over heels for you.”

Stiles couldn’t interrupt Derek even if he wanted to right now. He’s so incredibly entranced by what Derek’s saying. He’s desperate to believe him. 

“And I met your family and you spent time with mine and it was honestly some of the best moments I’ve ever had in my life. You went to the lake with me and you were the only reason I was even able to handle being back there. I spent the entire day wishing it was real and hoping you felt the same, and when we had sex, I tried to show you that, to show you everything I was feeling because I was too scared to tell you.”

Stiles is pretty sure his heart has stopped. 

This is not at all what he expected or even hoped to hear from Derek. 

They’ve fucked this entire thing up. They’ve done nothing right and everything out of order, and they’ve definitely hurt each other. 

But Stiles is officially all in and he really hopes Derek is too. 

He wants to give them a chance and he’s willing to fight for it, to fight for them. So that they can have a fairytale ending, well, their version of one at least. It’s not like Scott and Allison, and it’s certainly not all sunshine and rainbows. But it could be good. It could be the best thing ever actually. 

Stiles meets Derek’s gaze and he can feel his heart soar at what he sees there. 

“So no, you were never anything close to a prostitute because it stopped being about our arrangement pretty much after the second date for me and because I’m in love with you. I hadn’t wanted a relationship before I met you because I thought it would complicate my life and that it wouldn’t be worth it, but now I want one more than anything. But only with you,” Derek states like there’s no truth for him other than that. 

\--  
Derek’s breathless by the time he finishes his speech. 

He’s pretty sure Stiles is on the same page as him, but he hasn’t said anything yet. 

In fact, a full minute goes by with Stiles just sitting there in silence and Derek is desperate to know what’s going through his crazy, brilliant brain. 

“Um, Stiles?” Derek cracks and asks, “It’d be really great if you told me what you were thinking.” 

“Oh, shit, sorry,” Stiles startles, “I got totally distracted trying to figure out if this would be enough to get Kate thrown in prison so that we wouldn’t have to worry about her fucking up our lives ever again.”

Derek laughs. 

It’s such a wonderfully Stiles thing to say. 

It’s the kind of thing he wants in his life forever. 

Speaking of which, he couldn’t help but notice the ‘our’ in that last sentence, and his heart starts to pound with hope. “Our?”

“I mean, I’m willing to give this a shot if you are,” Stiles says with a smirk. 

It’s the same smirk that drove Derek mad with a combination of lust and annoyance when he first met Stiles. 

But now, it’s the best thing he’s ever seen. 

Derek’s pretty sure he’s never smiled this much in his life. 

But he really needs to kiss Stiles. 

He practically tackles him to the couch in his urge to kiss him and then he loses himself to anything else for a while. 

At least, until Scott walks through the door to yell at Stiles for letting the delivery boy stand knocking out on the door for twenty minutes. 

They were a little distracted apparently and hadn’t heard him. 

Derek doesn’t even really care that by the time they realize that Scott’s there, it’s way too late for Derek to take his hand out of Stiles’ pants. 

“Uh, hi, Scotty,” Stiles says awkwardly, his hips still moving into Derek’s grasp. 

“Oh, fuck, I’m going to go,” Scott whines immediately backing towards the door. “Also, congrats, I really didn’t want to have to kill Derek.” 

Stiles flips him off and then goes back to sucking a hickie on Derek’s neck while Derek jerks him off.

“Scott was going to kill me?” Derek groans out. 

“Nah, I wouldn’t let him. I kind of want to keep you.” 

It’s a good thing that Derek wants to be kept too. 

\--  
_In the two weeks since the Queen’s gala so much has happened that we can barely keep up. Apparently, Kate Argent was illegally tracking the Prince and his beau and has been arrested. She told the press that the entire relationship between Derek and Stiles was apparently fake, but we think she’s just trying to stir up trouble. Especially given the new pictures we have of the couple getting it on in the back of a car (okay, they weren’t having sex, but there were some hands in some not so PG locations). We’d encourage the couple to keep their activities to the bedroom just for their sake especially since it seems like they’ll be sharing one now that they’re moving in together. It may be a little fast in our opinion, but when you know, you know, right? Plus, this has to mean that a wedding is right around the corner. Fingers crossed! Until next time…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. And as always, a largest thanks to my beta, [Neon](http://warenmagician.tumblr.com/). Until next time, you can find me on my [tumblr](http://maybehonestly.tumblr.com).


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